Following an Obama rally in Sunrise, FL, a reporter asked a woman named Peggy Joseph about her experience.  Twenty six seconds of the interview are shown here, and I've been unable to locate any more.  The final ten seconds or so are what the right is making hay over.  [I was going to link to a blog or two with the video instead of YouTube, but I won't play party to giving the scum involved a few cents worth of advertising revenue for the hits they might get as a result.  If you really want to know what their specific 'arguments' are, just google Peggy Joseph and you'll find plenty in a hurry...]

Reporter: Peggy Joseph took her daughter out of school early Wednesday for this; her emotions ran high following Obama's speech.

 

Peggy Joseph: It was the most ... memorable time of my life.  I, I was ... It was a touching moment.

 

Reporter: Why?

 

Peggy Joseph: Because, I never thought this day would ever happen.  I won't have to worry about putting gas in my car; I won't have to worry about paying my mortgage.  You know, if I, if I help him, he's gonna help me.

Across the Internet, conservative bloggers are labeling her Obama's 'Joe the Plumber.'  The argument generally goes as you would expect: She is an ignorant Black woman with no job who genuinely believes that Obama is going to hike taxes and write checks to poor people, or with the added twist that she is currently employed and intends to quit her job to go on Obama's upcoming super-welfare (she does have a mortgage after all, so she must have had a job at some point, right?)  It's the standard welfare queen argument that has become a cornerstone of the 2008 Republican campaign in the guise of 'socialism.'  The argument is absurd and loathsome to put it simply.  It is no more valid than the idea that the Republican party is peopled entirely by religious extremists and decrepit old White guys who roll around on piles of money earned through the sweat of their underlings. 

Are there completely moronic people who honestly believe that Obama is going to just write everyone a check?  Of course.  Are there loonies on the other side who want to actually kill Obama because he's a Muslim, terrorist, socialist, etc?  Of course.  Consider instead the possibility that Peggy Joseph is not an idiot, that she is not a welfare queen transported to the year 2008, and might just be a responsible citizen who was quoted out of context, or at least without any followup whatsoever.  I've got to say, I agree with everything she said in the last few seconds.  Here is my argument for her statement making sense.

I am glad that Barack Obama is going to win because I won't have to worry about putting gas in my car or paying my bills.  My lack of worry is NOT because I think he's going to pay me directly.  It is because I won't have to worry about losing my job (or perhaps in Peggy's case she doesn't currently have one and thinks it would be easier for her to find employment.)  If John McCain wins, I do not think that he will handle the current economic situation well.  He will continue the destructive economic policies that have driven the worlds' economies to their knees.  He will dramatically increase the likelihood that Peggy and I will lose our jobs, and once lost, they will be much harder to replace and will pay less.  If I help Barack Obama with my vote, he will help me with improved economic security.

In case you're curious about my employment status, I'm a gainfully employed professional and, with a short break to take care of my daughter when she was an infant, have been since I was old enough to have a job.