File this under irony:
Samuel Wurzelbacher, known in the media as “Joe the Plumber” during the 2008 presidential campaign, has gotten a new job. And it’s a union job for Chrysler.
You know – that American auto manufacturer that President Obama had the nerve to want to help in difficult times.
From the Toledo Blade:
“In order to work for Chrysler, you are required to join the Union, in this case UAW. There’s no choice – it’s a union shop – the employees voted to have it that way and in America that’s the way it is,” he wrote. “Private unions, such as the UAW, is a choice between employees and employers. If that is what they want then who am I to say you can’t have it?” he said.
You may recall that Wurzelbacher’s brief brush with fame came from a question to President Obama “on the question of redistributing wealth.” Wurzelbacher said at a media stop during the 2008 campaign that the business he was “about to buy” would leave him making $250,000 or more and therefore taxed at a higher rate under Obama’s plans.
As it turned out, Wurzelbacher wasn’t “about to buy” anything. It was a hypothetical question posed to get a reaction from the candidate.
He became attractive to the GOP movement that election cycle because he supposedly represented upward mobility, and the idea that guys making a lot of money shouldn’t be taxed more if they had just started making a lot of money.
But in the end, even for someone who was taken up by the right as a voice and a champion, upward mobility was out of reach.
Today, in order to make a living, he’s found himself a union job. Probably a good one. One that was saved in great part due to the actions of President Obama.
In December of 2013, the Center for Automotive Research study found that the 2008-2009 auto industry bailout saved 2.6 million jobs in 2009 alone and $284.4 billion in personal income was preserved over 2009-2010.
One of those millions of jobs is now Samuel Wurzelbacher’s.
Yep. I think the word “irony” is appropriate here.
(source)
