"No More Qualified than a Plumber"
Yesterday, Joe Biden was continuing the attack on Mitt Romney's Bain Capital experience, stating that Romney's experience as a private equity CEO "no more qualifies you to be president than being a plumber." For a vice president whose main role on the ticket is to connect with the blue collar Reagan Democrats, that is a Biden blunder ranking up there with praising Obama as "clean and articulate." No surprise.
I view it as a "Kinsley gaffe," in which a politician reveals what he (and in this case, most of the Democrat leadership) actually does think, about the average blue collar tradesman. Why, exactly, is a plumber unfit to be president? I know one plumber who has built up a substantial contracting business over the last 35 years; I suspect his practical knowledge of how the real world works far better fits him to be president than, say, a lawyer with a lifetime in the US Senate or a community organizer turned law professor. But, in the minds of Biden, Obama, and most of the Democratic leadership and the "Mainstream Media", only people possessing advanced degrees are qualified for elective office. (I suspect Sarah Palin's lack of such a credential was the invitation to her marginalization.)
This obsession with higher academic credentials goes far beyond elective office, though. Over the last 40 years, the whole view of blue collar work has changed profoundly. Parents of children who choose not to go to college are deeply shamed (particularly if they attended college themselves). My father (who had a masters degree) never felt that way about my brothers who went into blue collar jobs, but now even those brothers push their own kids to go to college. (This is the cultural driver of the higher ed bubble that is rarely discussed.)
In the 50s America I grew up in, blue collar men were not ashamed of their work, and it was inconceivable that a Vice President of either party would casually voice the kind of snobbism Biden did. The Left's obsession with income equality can be seen as simple projection, a strategy to divert attention from the reality of the Left's contempt for the noncredentialled serfs they pretend to represent.
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Comments:
Dec '10
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
Great catch and great post Robert. Leftism is evil. Not all leftists are evil, but the ideology is so sickeningly degrading and dehumanizing to people.
Part of why Biden gets away with this crap is how shallow we've become about defining success. From the material definition -- nice house, nice car, nice clothes, nice gadgets -- to the self esteem craze, in which one's good feeling about oneself seems to require a diminished appreciation of the human dignity of others. The latter is a particularly pernicious product of leftism.
I used to describe getting my degree as getting a monkey off my back, because of the tremendous social pressure to "use my talents" in higher ed. I love to remind lefties about Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Would either of them qualify to be president, Joe? Well, actually, yeah, but because they're on the left despite never having finished their leftist college indoctrination.
BTW, Joe the Plumber is running for Congress. We could all send him a couple bucks on behalf of the other Joe.
Apr '12
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
It seems to me like a lot of things are getting mixed up in this conversation. Is Joe Biden loathsome? Definitely. Is blue collar work important and honorable? Absolutely.
But would you really all regard working as a plumber as a significant qualification for the presidency? Why? I wouldn't regard it as a *dis*qualification, but it doesn't seem like many of the skills would cross-apply. Of course working any job steadily testifies to a certain level of dependability, and if the guy has built a massively successful plumbing company that sprawls across three states, that's quite different from just being a plumber.
What really seems dumb to me is the suggestion that Romney's work at Bain is like doing the plumbing on a building. That doesn't seem true at all, but if it *is* true, it cuts the other way: maybe plumbing is more of a qualification than I realized.
Dec '10
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
I think the point is, being a plumber (or actor, or haberdasher, ...) is no more disqualifying than being a community organizer or president of the Harvard Law Review or senator is qualifying. Which has become painfully apparent to most people.
It seems to be a complex combination of personality, life experience, and (on-the-job) training which gives a man the wisdom to wield the power of the presidency. The current occupant is lacking in all three, as is Joe Biden.
May '10
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
The gift that keeps on giving. I suspect that once it is clear Romney's Bain will be Obama's Pain, the margin between Obama and Biden will begin to narrow; Obama will lose even the thin patina of dignity he has heretofore had, and we will be looking at a landslide Romney win: 40 or more states.
The Democrats are such morons on every level. Unbelievable.
Apr '12
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
Western Chauvinist
I think the point is, being a plumber (or actor, or haberdasher, ...) is no more disqualifying than being a community organizer or president of the Harvard Law Review or senator is qualifying. Which has become painfully apparent to most people.
It seems to be a complex combination of personality, life experience, and (on-the-job) training which gives a man the wisdom to wield the power of the presidency. The current occupant is lacking in all three, as is Joe Biden. · 1 hour ago
But that's just misunderstanding what Biden said. He was comparing plumbing to Romney's work at Bain *as qualifications*. He wasn't saying that working as a plumber was per se a disqualification. The correct response is not, "Plumbers are people too!" (which obviously they are, but that's not the issue). The correct response is, "That's ridiculous. Romney's executive experience isn't remotely similar to working as a plumber.
Apr '12
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
It's anecdotal, but when I was discussing the Santorum "snob" video with a liberal acquaintance, it was telling how quickly he went from praising skilled "craftsmen" to ranting about Santorum pandering to an under-educated group of manual laborers. 'Cus anybody who didn't have a college degree-- as he assumed none of the people shown did, since they didn't jump up and shriek at Santorum-- must be under-educated. And if they didn't think everyone should go to college like they did, they're hypocrites.
It's probably just a different aspect of "Sarah Palin isn't a woman" type BS-- or the talk about "the only thing black about him is his skin" that gets thrown at anybody who's black and running for right-of-center office.
Aug '10
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
tabula rasa: So what does qualify you? Going into the U.S. Senate at age 30 and sitting there pontificating for more than 30 years? Give me the plumber--he's actually had to do something.
My dad was a blue collar guy: in his case working his small family farm. He had more wisdom in his little finger that Biden has in what one might call his brain. Which is worse: his arrogance or his stupidity? · May 24 at 11:24am
TR - Once again, I wonder if we were separated at birth.
Sep '11
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
Rachel Lu: you have a point. Being a plumber, in and of itself, doesn't qualify someone for the presidency, but running Bain Capital, in and of itself, doesn't make someone qualified for the presidency either. If a plumber who had never held any elected office decided to run for president, I would never vote for him; if the CEO of a fortune 500 company who had never held elected office ran for the presidency, I wouldn't vote for him either. If the CEO and the plumber were competing for state rep, I would give them equal consideration. If running Bain Capital was the only thing that Romney had ever done, then Biden would have a point.
Harry Truman never went to college, and he was a decent president; I think that what many of us on this thread are reacting to is the idea, which is held by some, that a plumber isn't even qualified to be a state rep; that isn't what Biden said- I know that Biden didn't say that- but his comment dripped with contempt for working class people.
Sep '11
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
It is unfair to blame Biden for something that he didn't say; it was wrong of me to ascribe ideas to him that he doesn't necessarily hold, but to hear Obama tell it, people who don't go to college are not qualified to do anything other than flip burgers.
Apr '12
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
Well, I think executive business experience is quite a bit more relevant to executive political office than being a plumber. And I don't think that has anything to do with snobby disrespect for plumbers.
Sep '11
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
You may be right, but Romney can't say that without alienating plumbers :) And there is way too much snobby disrespect for plumbers going around these days.
Apr '12
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
That's certainly possible! Education in America is mixed up in class distinctions in complicated ways.
May '10
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
Flippancy invites flippancy: Romney is as qualified as a plumber, and both of them are more qualified that Community Organizer Obama.
Romney should turn this right back around on them:
Plumber & Plumber 2012 (Romney and Joe the)
Romney/Paul 2012: Replace that faulty "O" ring.
Romney/Rubio 2012: Plug the federal money drain.
Romney/Christie 2012: Rooting out waste and corruption.
Kind of fits with the working-man theme of this old one:
Romney/Booker '12: We always carry a spare ax.
Mar '12
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
Rachel Lu:
But would you really all regard working as a plumber as a significant qualification for the presidency?
The whole sense of Biden's comment is that being a plumber is an obvious disqualification. (Try substituting "lawyer" or "professor" for "plumber" in Biden's sentence, and the whole force of the critique vanishes; this is why it is unimaginable that Biden would use those terms.)
In my experience, intellectual prowess is not necessarily associated with snobbism; but the intellectually mediocre with credentials invariably are.
Edited on May 26, 2012 at 10:19pmApr '12
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
Bingo.
The choice of reducto-ad-absurdum comparison is rather danging.
Sep '10
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
Robert Mitchell
In my experience, intellectual prowess is not necessarily associated with snobbism; but the intellectually mediocre with credentials invariably are. · 4 hours ago
Exactly. The people who think a great deal about credentials and the "right" schools are often people with few substantial accomplishments to their credit. Biden, a serial plagiarist who graduated near the bottom of his law school class, is a canonical example of the type.
Apr '12
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
Eh. Not really seeing it. I mean, I sort of do, but as Biden gaffes go this is pretty trivial. Your "lawyer or professor" substitution doesn't tell us anything, because being a lawyer or professor might easily gain a person experience or expertise of a sort that would be relevant to a high political office. If a person has a nuanced understanding of economics or geopolitics or business law or immigration or a hundred other things that lawyers and professors work on, that would be relevant to the presidency. A nuanced understanding of pipes? Not so much.
Substitute "concert pianist" for "plumber" and it still works. I admit that Biden would be less likely to say that. Still doesn't seem like much of a gaffe to me.
May '12
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
A key ingredient to great leadership is wisdom, the ability to tell a cow pie from a chocolate pie. Wisdom comes from listening, learning and applying that learning to living. Fortunately for us all, wisdom is no respecter of college degrees---we find wise people everywhere in our society. Unfortunately our society too often equates credentials with wisdom. Please give me Joe the Plumber any day to Joe the Gaffer-in-Chief.
Jul '10
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
People keep making this mistake. Obama wasn't a law professor. He was a part-time instructor. World of difference.
Apr '11
Re: "No More Qualified than a Plumber"
Can anyone name a member of any administration that might actually have been dumber than Biden?
This guy is an arrogant, embarrassing clown and a moron on his best days.
Edited on May 27, 2012 at 6:39pm