Posted by
Patrick Henry on Thursday, October 23, 2008 7:03:23 PM
During the last two weeks the name "Joe" has become quite significant in the current
presidential contest. Not one, but two "Joes" have been in the news. And each has shed
significant light on the contest now playing out before the American electorate.
Joe number one is Joe Biden, the Democratic vice presidential candidate and running mate
of Barack Obama, who observed during remarks in Seattle that Barack Obama would be
tested by an international crisis within the first six months after election, that the way it was
handled might at first appear wrong, and that voters needed to be patient and "stay with"
Obama. Obama himself later sought to amend Biden's remarks to mean that WHOEVER
was elected would be so tested. But that was clearly not Senator Biden's initial intent. Now
Joe Biden, gaffes and all, is nobody's dummy. And he knows foreign policy. So what does Joe
know about a brewing crisis that will test a young and inexperienced Obama and which he
might appear to fumble?
Interestingly enough, Biden's comments came just after a senior Iranian policy advisor's
remarks in London that Iran was consdering a pre-emptive strike on Israel in order to protect
their own nuclear program. Assuming that's a possible scenario, how might Barack Obama
react? His insipid initial reaction to the Russian invasion of Georgia and the fact that he has
surrounded himself with pro-Palestinian advisors suggests that his obligatory rhetoric about
being committed to Israel's security is just that. Based on his record, the views of his advisors
and what he has said publicly, his probable reaction would be to scold Iran and refer the
matter to the United Nations where, as usual, nothing significant will be done. That will be
read by the general public as weakness, and by Jewish Americans and the Israeli allies as
abject betrayal. Such a scenario will likely cause many Obama voters a severe case of buyer's
remorse, and will irrtrievably damage America's image as an ally worldwide, and the
relationship with our only reliable ally in the toubled Middle East. Even Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, who IS a dummy, wouldn't be stupid enough to attack Israel with John McCain
in the White House, because he knows that such an action would trigger a massive U.S.
military counter-strike that would send his tattered regime back into the stone age. Biden
knows that Obama simply isn't ready for such a test, and that public reaction will be intensely
negative. He's trying to deflate public expectations in advance of the events. And one must
ask what kind of incentive that is to vote for Obama in the first place?
The other Joe's last name is Wurzelbacher. He's the poor Ohio plumber who had the
audacity to ask The Chosen One why he wanted to raise taxes on small businessmen, drawing
the now famous response from Obama that he "wanted to spread the wealth around." It
seems that every time Obama appears in an unscripted situation, he blurts out the truth,
opening windows into his soul and character that his campaign team has fought relentlessly to
obscure. Remember his Camelback bumble to the effect that determining when life begins is
"above my pay grade," thus copping out on a full and frank discussion of the morality of
abortion? The Ohio blunder clearly shows his socialist leanings -- that his plan is to take
money from those who have earned it and give it to those who have not -- some of whom pay
no taxes at all. His campaign is still reeling from that one.
Most interesting is the way the in-the-tank-for-Obama media has turned on Wurzelbacher,
regaling him for not having a plumber's license (which he doesn't need in his county to do
residential work) and because he owes back state taxes. Some have suggested that he was a
Repuiblican plant. All of this is simply a distraction from the point. It really doesn't
matter if Wurzelacher is a Democrat, a Republican or an Independent, whether he's left or
right handed, whether he's gay or straight, whether he was a Republican plant or Jack the
Ripper. The damning words didn't come from his mouth, they came from Obama's. Of
course, the press has chosen to ignore that, as they have Obama's other gaffes.
Some real insight has come to us from these two Joes. Unfortunately, Obama supporters
have made up their minds like silly adolescents who buy their favorite rock star's every CD
even though it is musical crapola. You can't confuse them with the facts What do you know,
Joe? Six months from now the old refrain may have a whole new significance, and we'll know
that we should have listened more carefully.