I am Joe the Plumber. Not really. I'm an attorney by training and an entrepreneur by choice and my name isn't Joe. I'm a product of public schools. I've served in our military (11 years with service in a foreign military conflict). I put myself through college and then law school. I am a registered Republican. I have supported Republican candidates for President since Gerald Ford in 1976 (with one exception, I voted against George W. Bush in 2004) and I have always considered myself a conservative, that is the kind of conservative who believes in small government, low taxes, unintrusive policies, and freedom of and from religion. I support Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.
I have the utmost respect for Senator John McCain. His service to our country, both in military and public service, is commendable and an example that serves our youth well. Like many others, for me Senator McCain's selection of Governor Palin was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back (no reference to either the Senator or the Governor should be drawn from this reference). Clearly, Governor Palin's inability to answer either Charles Gibson's or Katie Courics questions with candor and her misstatement (in a Cheney-esque fashion) of the role and duties of the Vice President showed that the Governor may not be ready to lead our great nation if called upon. The campaign's choice to not allow the Governor to meet other members of the press confirms my concerns. Senator McCain's selection of the Governor raises serious questions about his decision making process and about the truthfulness of his "Country First" slogan that makes it impossible for me to support his candidacy.
I believe that you, Senator Obama, will win the election by a landslide and that the Democrats will control both houses of Congress. While I do not believe that the current Congressional leadership has done anything to warrant their retaining their jobs, I understand that this is highly likely. What is important for you and everyone else who is fortunate or unfortunate, as the case may be, to take office in January 2009 is that this is not a mandate for liberal partisan politics, or liberal political realignment. We don't need the political pendulum to swing equally far to the left as it is presently to the right.
We, the Joe the Plumbers (and Josie the Plumbers) of the country, are fed up with the partisan politics that has crippled Washington DC for the past 8 years, and probably longer. We want solutions to serious problems. We want leaders who lead. We want elected officials to repair our ailing economy, shore up our crippled financial system, and return to capitalist principals (our government shouldn't own our banks or our businesses) as soon as possible. We want an energy policy that is sustainable, that respects the planet, and that rids us of dependence on foreign oil. We want the United States to be the most respected country in the World, not the most reviled. We want to return the balance of power from an overly powerful administrative branch to the legislature and judicial branches. Most importantly, we want to stop the divisive rhetoric that inflames the far right or the far left base because it is politically expedient. The solutions to our nation's problems likely lie outside the "box" but are not on either extreme. Just remember, there is nothing you can do that will make the twenty percent on the far right admire you and there is very little you can do to make the twenty percent on the far left abandon you. It is time to govern for the sixty percent in the middle.
This is the mandate that I support with my vote for Senator Barack Obama and against my sitting congressional representatives. I suspect the silent majority of Joe the Plumbers across this country have similar expectations. I expect no less (actually, I expect much more). I will accept no less. This is the mandate. If you are either unwilling or unable to rise to the occasion, I will have a new mandate in four years (or two if for my representatives) that I will deliver through your or their competitors. We will continue to fight for these basic principles until our elected officials listen to the silent majority and start governing with honesty, dignity, and integrity with the single goal to solve problems and make America great rather than appease their base or perpetuate partisan bickering. I believe that you, Senator Obama, have the intelligence, judgment and temperament to rise above the status quo and really effect change, but I know that you cannot do this alone. You will need the help of great Americans. Not great partisan political advisors, but great Americans. we must begin to separate the two and only elect great Americans. God speed Mr. Obama and all others who prevail on election day. This is not a religious endorsement, just a very nostalgic phrase from a time when America's greatness wasn't in doubt.
