Joe The Plumber - Joe Six Pack - Joe Politician

I seem to recall politicians in the past at least trying to get a grasp on some real people and even in recent years, they have talked about “Ed Kowazak and his family of St. Paul, Minnesota.” They would go on to tell you about how Ed had recently lost his job because a mill had closed down, or something the audience could relate to.

Well, Sarah Palin took to talking about Joe Six-Pack and last night both Messrs Obama and McCain were apparently talking about Joe the Plumber in Ohio. (Sorry, we were at a meeting and got back about 20 minutes into the debate.)

If you have been following the story, you know that Joe’s name is not even Joe! Today, we find out that maybe Joe the Plumber isn’t exactly even a plumber!

That’s really too bad, you know. I could have introduced them to our plumber, Mike Stephenson, who has a fleet of pink trucks (because it’s his wife’s favorite color). Of course, he bought the company from Mr. Hill who just recently retired so it is called Hill Plumbing. And he really is a plumber! And he’s friendly, his prices are fair and he cleans up before he leaves.

I am not so sure we like being referred to as Joe Six-Pack! That would be Mr. Joe, the Voting Public, to you, Ms. Palin.

Do these politicians not even have people on staff to go out there and find out a little bit about people who might be interested in voting for them? Do they not think to invite these people to sit with their wives in the audience? Not too creative, Joe Politician!

Getting The Vote Out!

Well, now those of us with dual citizenship and dual affinities have two elections to watch! Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has dissolved Parliament and called an Election. 

Back in pre-historic times when I worked on elections in Toronto’s affluent North End, we pounded the pavement with low tech methods designed to get the vote out. This was in the early 60s. 

Let me explain briefly how we did that. 

First, each “canvasser” was handed a (paper) voting list, some campaign pamphlets and a couple of pencils. Each list probably covered two square city blocks. (North Toronto has “city blocks” – nice squares of established two and three storey homes on approximately 40 to 50 foot lots.) 

Each of us went up and down the sidewalks, walking up the paths and knocking on the front door of each house. 

Now, when I knocked on the door, I was ready. When the person opened the door, I said, 

“Hello, I am working for John Doe, your Progressive-Conservative candidate.” I handed the householder the piece of literature and stayed quiet to observe the other person’s reaction. 

There were three possible reactions: 

“I am not interested.” (Take that as maybe, uncommitted or not voting.) 

“I am voting Liberal. (Take that as a “NO”.) 

“Ah, yes, I really like that guy and I am going to vote for him! (Take that as a “YES”.) 

Now, if the person wanted to chat about the PC candidate, of course, I stayed and probably told them where the next rally would be. I probably showed the telephone number on the brochure so they could phone, offering support for candidate in a more industrious way. 

After the householder closed the door and I had walked down the steps and down the path to the sidewalk, I marked my Voter’s List with the appropriate “uncommitted”, definite “NO’ or definite “YES”. 

After doing the canvass, the Voter’s Lists were turned in and someone else at Party Headquarters would make a copy (probably manually) on another Voters List of my comments. A worker would look up the telephone numbers, note them beside the possible PC voters’ names, and the Voter’s Lists were kept for Election Day. 

On Election Day, we had workers who were there, marking off who had voted. We were right there. I have to tell you that we did not know who they voted for but if it was someone we had shown as likely to vote PC, which was a plus! 

Now, about 2:00 to 3:00 o’clock in the afternoon, we had more workers ready to “get the vote out”. We would look at the people who had been assessed as voting PC and if some had not yet voted, we telephoned them. 

“This is Mary from Mr. Doe’s office and we notice you have not yet voted! Could we give you a ride to your polling place?” 

For most people this was really just a reminder, and the response was generally that when hubby came home, they were going to vote together. 

Some people, especially seniors, indicated that they would be happy to be picked up and driven to the polling station where they would vote (hopefully for our candidate.) 

Then, there was my Aunt Helen. I’m pretty sure she was a staunch Liberal. She would tell me the next day that she had voted and indicated she had been driven to the poll. When I would ask her who drove her to vote, she would answer, 

“The party with the most handsome drivers, of course!” 

You gotta love that answer. However, it also shows that the system may not have been flawless! 

My point is that all the campaigning and all the opinion polls will not determine who gets voted in. The bottom line is getting the people to vote. That means absentee ballots for those away at school, early voting for those in retirement communities and those who know they will be away. We also must get young people now eligible to vote to register and reminding them to actually get out to vote! 

Barack Obama has a history of getting young people and new citizens registered. He has done this in the past and is doing it now! So, it behooves Mr. McCain’s people to do the same thing. 

Getting the Vote Out – That is how to be elected President of the United States!

Not Much to Talk About?

Well, yesterday it was Hurricane Gustav. That was newsworthy and hurricanes tend to pre-empt other news. Especially, meteorologists get that crazed look in their eyes! This is what they live for! Junior reporters doing live remotes get their breaks (hoping to follow in Dan Rather’s footsteps)! When Gustav turned out to be gentler than expected (thank goodness), the media was left with virtually nothing to talk about today.

From first thing this morning, every network has done major features on Gov. Sarah Palin’s 17-year-old daughter’s pregnancy. Well, welcome to the real world, all of you!

Many families today – make that huge numbers of families -have to cope with unwed pregnancies and child-rearing of another generation of children. Many of these mothers do not marry the fathers. It is so much of a common thing, and many of us have been touched by this. Yes, it is not right, but it is fact. It’s life today. (Remember, we are no longer looking at the Cleavers as your average family: most mothers work outside the home. This is not the 50s.)

Concerning the coming Presidential Election and the non-stop coverage: let me make a couple of comments and put forth an idea.

The Presidency of the United States is without a doubt the worst job a person could apply for. I mean it! If you get to live out your term, you will come out of possibly an eight-year stint with grey or white hair, plenty of wrinkles and a furrowed brow. You will have a few less friends and influence than you had going in. Your pay will be rather low by today’s standards for top executives but you do get secret service protection for the rest of your life. (Just what everyone wants: someone tailing them to the supermarket or department store.)

As for being Vice President, well, that is a job where you pretty much stay in the background, unless of course, your President dies in office. Sometimes you would become well-enough known to run for President yourself. Of course, that could put you in the situation for as long as 16 years! Whoa!

So, perhaps a few people of enormous credentials have noticed that this just might not be the job they want.

So, when we have a few good people – true patriots who indeed are willing to sacrifice to serve their country – well, what happens?

Let me count some of the ways we knocked off some of the people willing to run. We said they were: too Mormon, too old, too Hispanic, not Hispanic enough, too Libertarian, too show biz, too female, too Black, or perhaps not Black enough . . .

So, shall we set up Gov. Palin as too human?

Some people need to sit back and think about what it would be like to have one of us in the White House. Because, it looks to me as though some of these people are indeed, one of us!

Granted, John McCain is NOT one of us. Not too many of us have gone through the sacrifices this man has, all in the name of love of country. In an era of longevity, he should not be considered old, but of course, he might have a little more money than most of us.

Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle are pretty ordinary people in a country built on immigrants and working people trying to provide quality education and good starts for their children.

Joe Biden has suffered some of the painful events others of us have suffered: widowed with young children to raise and severe afflictions and illness to overcome.

So, perhaps we have something we have not had in the past! Perhaps we can finally elect an individual who can relate to ordinary folks, who are, after all, the employers of the President of the United States of America.

So, as an employer, why not just listen and see who you would like to elect. Because, this time, you have the chance to elect one of us!

Now, is there something else you’d like to talk about?