I really hate when politicians generalize Middle America. They all do it and we listen to it, knowing that there is so much more that describes the experience than their gross caricatures. Many of us even adopt these phrases. The latest in the one that I strongly dislike is "Joe Six-Pack".
Who is this Joe Six Pack?
The AP (the link is Seattle times) has a great bit about it.
From the article:
He likely drinks that six-pack at his kitchen table, where, if he's still married, he and his wife, Soccer Mom, talk about how it feels to personify Middle America and how Washington insiders are out of touch.
But at least they're better off than Six-Pack's cousin, Joe Lunchbucket, a working stiff who has to pack his own lunch and can't even afford beer. Nobody seems to mention him much.
Another prominent resident of their town, Small Business Owner, has it tough, too. To be honest, these days even the guy in the McMansion one subdivision over, White-Collar Elite, faces hardships. He could get laid off anytime. When it comes to heavy mortgages, high gas prices and the other weighty issues of our time, he's starting to look an awful lot like Joe Six-Pack, even if his shirt is a different color.
We're all Americans and why is it that people identify what they think is a certain experience with these (to me) truly condescending phrases? One segment of the population is not summed up in a phrase like Joe Six-Pack. The lives and experiences of America is much more than a job and beer.
I work a Job that many consider white collar but I'm sure there are many of the Joe Six Packs who make more money than I. It seems these frames politicians put on Americans make us all think of each other in really silly compartmentalized ways.
I don't want to go on but I'd like to know what everyone else things about "Joe".