An earlier diary spoke to reaching the legendary Bubbas of America and a commenter mentioned that its not so much the Bubbas but the Joe Six Packs we need to address. And I think that is exactly right. The term "Bubba" has a lot of negative connotations to many of us - think of less avuncular Larry the Cable Guy types. This type of character is simply not gonna vote for the Democratic Party folks - they are lost to us. However, the legendary Joe Six Pack - now that is a voter composite that we SHOULD be snaring in droves. But we are not. Let me point out that every single meeting I have attended of my local Democratic club has featured in attendance a typical blue collar, white suburban working guy - the legendary Joe Six Pack. So these voters are reachable. So let's examine a typical Joe Six Pack:
To be clear: our fictional Joe Six Pack lives in a suburban town outside of Cleveland - not tony suburban but borderline rural. He needs to drive his SUV approximately 20 miles, but after that its nothing but farmland in one direction and some real good lakeland, excellent for camping and some good lake and stream fishing in the other direction (he doesn't hunt - nothing against it, its just his dad didn't and there was never any interest - a lot of the fellas at the car dealership where Joe is a shift supervisor in the auto shop get real excited about deer season though).
Joe has a wife he loves very much and has never cheated on her though damn, that Sandra Bullock wouldn't be so bad. He has two kids, a 10 year old girl and a 13 year old boy. He recognizes in himself the ability to actually kill for these children (even though his son is starting to annoy him with that mouth - must be a teen thing).
Joe doesn't hate gays - hell, he thinks that guy on that show is freaking hilarious. He sure doesn't like having (to him) bizarre sexual practices shoved in his face though and has to admit he would be deeply disapointed if his son were gay. On some reflection he thinks he could deal with it - maybe. And that second cousin his wife is unusually close to - c'mon, he's gotta be gay, right? And he's not that bad - a pretty big fan of the Indians too.
Joe secretly loves - LOVES violence on TV. When it starts to freak the wife out he'll pay a little lip service to getting some parental controls on the cable box. But there ain't nothing wrong with a Schwartzeneger flick every now and again.
Joe drives an SUV because it feels secure, sturdy, powerful. He's a bit of a gearhead (he does run an auto shop after all) and has an old Harley, a waverunner, a small fishing boat and a garage full of old engine parts, motors, lawn mowers - you name it. Last month though he was dismayed that a favorite stream of his had dried up due to some land mismanagement. And the lake he went to as a kid is a dirty ditch now. And that SUV - well, its a manly ride for sure - but jesuschrist the freaking gas prices. Joe could be convinced to drive a hybrid, or start a family conservation plan or something. He sure could use some thought leadership on that issue - preferably delivered to him in a non condescending manner from a regular fella and not someone named Robin Sunshine from Berkeley.
Joe Sixpack hates country music - well, most of it. Hank Williams and Johnny Cash are pretty good. But Zeppelin rules. Classic rock all the way for Joe Sixpack. Nirvana was vaguely catchy but damn did they whine.
Joe Sixpack isn't a racist but is sometimes confused by and occasionally fearful of African Americans and other minorities. The black guys down at the shop are all regular guys for sure. But something goes queasy, flippy flop in his stomach when he sees those low pants riding, bling bling sporting, nonsense spouting hip hops kids talking about "bein' up in da club." Joe nods in agreement and says "this guy gets it" when he hears Chris Rock's "N***ers versus Black Folks" routine, for instance.
Same thing for hippies, punk rockers, extreme biker types, art weirdos, and other fashion victims. Do what ya gotta do, but what the heck is that all about? Is there something wrong with jeans and a flannel shirt these days?
Joe of course wore his hair down to his ass when he was 14 back in 1976 - smoked more pot than Cheech and Chong combined back then, too.
But the military straightened him out. Yeah, he coulda gone to college. Even Joe had to admit that a guy like him with decent grades and some ok extracurriculars (Joe played football and wrestled) could get into an affordable state school - but he felt the military was a good option to see the world and toughen up. Toughening up always seemed like a good idea to Joe. After the Marines Joe tightened up his mechanic skills at a two year program and by that time was well on his way to a second kid.
Joe voted for Reagan twice, GH Bush once, Perot once and (holding his nose a bit but shit Perot turned out to be a whack job) Clinton once. But he jumped back into the fray of the GOP and voted for Bush II twice. Gore was a stiff and probably a liar and Kerry was an effete snob poseur. Joe actually didn't give a rat's ass about the Lewinsky thing either. The only thing it did was make for some pretty funny jokes and even then those got old, or - and this is just a vague feeling he had - they got a bit too vicious and weren't funny and playful and risque anymore but were more like - what's the word? Screeds. But that was a deep deep down feeling of unease he had about it. Perhaps if someone had spoken to him on the TV or in the local paper in an uncondescending way he might have actually told a couple of the fellas at the shop to stuff if with those Clinton jokes. But all the guest Op-Ed guys defending Clinton annoyed him even more, mostly because they seemed like a bunch of wimpy little peckerwoods from Harvard or something.
If you asked, Joe's favorite President's would be in order: Ronald Reagan (brought pride and toughness to our nation again), JFK (stood up to the USSR, was a good man and just LOOKED like a President) and FDR (duh - he fraking saved our country AND Europe).
Joe thinks Limbaugh is an over the top buffoon who makes him laugh regardless. He's more a Howard Stern guy - well, Stern from the early 90s, not the new pussified Stern. Joe reads the local paper with its local news and lifestyle sections and reprinted AP news feed coverage. Watches the local news out of Cleveland (although a mere 30 minute drive the place seems foreign to him). Doesn't care about CNN, the NYTimes, FOX News or MSNBC. ESPN and other sports viewing, however, occupies 60% of his time - the rest occupied by whatever the wife forces him to watch, local news, History and Discovery channel and the occasional movie that doesn't either irk him or bore him to sleep.
Joe coaches his son's Little League team and drives his daughter's soccer team to games when he can. He has never missed either of their events. Ever. His heart swell with pride when his daughter makes a great pass or his son makes a great catch.
Joe is a mechanic and understands physics and the forces of nature. Scientists can be whacky but he ultimately trusts them. He can't figure out this whole Evolution debate. Could someone explain it to him in an uncondescending fashion, preferably someone who can find a balance between defending evolution and mocking Religion?
Joe was brought up vaguely Christian - Methodist. Christmas was more about Santa than Jesus and that's the way it is with his family now. Oh, occasionally the wife gets guilty and somehow they end up in a church pew three times a year, but damn - that stuff is boring. But to Joe it's HIS boring - its for HIM to roll his eyes at and question. He may not pray a lot but Joe knows for damn sure that Jesus Christ made a hell of a lot of sense. So screw you if you tell him he can't wish his kid's schoolmates Merry Christmas or whatever. Yeah, yeah yeah - Joe doesn't need his kids praying in school and the 10 Commandments hanging on courthouse walls - he may only have two years of trade school under his belt, but Joe understands the Constitution thank you very much - but don't mock his religion. Don't.
Joe is starting to feel very uncomfortable about the War in Iraq. Yeah - he's got a yellow sticker on his SUV and believe it or not Mr Effete Upper West Side Snob he doesn't find anything ironic or cheesy or hollow or vacant about it either. He was in the friggin' corp fer chrissakes. And yeah, so he isn't as rah rah about the War as he at first was. And sure his thoughts are now geared more towards troop safety and a reasonable timetable to de-escalate. But don't mock him or his respect and trust in the military. Just don't.
Joe realizes that these tax cuts of the Prez's might not be trickling down after all. He thanks God that he works in the service side of a blue collar job - people will always need their cars fixed. But the downsizing and outsourcing keeps going on and on and on. Joe doesn't really have the drive, education or inclination to profit from the downsizing wave (what's he gonna do - start a small business and immediatelly hire some Indian workers?). What happens when no one can afford to buy a car, let alone have one fixed? Will his kids need to become hypereducated just to compete at a middle class level? Joe worries about this, especially in the context of his kid's futures every day.
Joe's heard about the NSA scandal but has really only glanced it over. They're only wiretapping terrorists, right? Could someone explain the big deal about this?
Joe has heard about the CIA agent scandal but that's just a bunch of journalists jerking themselves off. The local paper showed a picture of the CIA agent in question - some cover from some fashion mag where she and her husband looked like a couple of Hollywood models. That didnt exactly inspire sympathy to Joe. Besides, they got the guy right? Skippy? Slappy or something? Worked with the vice prez.
Well - there's a slice of our fictional Joe's life outlook. Looks like Joe just wants some respect and is open to a discussion of issues that affect or concern him as long as he is not be talked down to, mocked or is being confronted by someone alien to him. Looks like the appearence of sterness and authority - macho, if you will - are of concern to him too. And this may just be me projecting onto my little made up Joe - but it seems like his American news media, even those dry AP wire stories, just simply isn't delivering relevant and important news to Joe on a daily basis.
Has the modern Democratic Party become too disdainful of Joe and too (on the surface) "wimpy" to become a viable alertnative to the GOP? Is Joe simply unreasonbable in his desire to have a stern, strong "daddy" government on one side and a nurturing mommy government on the other side?