John McCain has come up with the one Hail Mary issue that can snatch victory: spread the wealth. And the one image: Joe the Plumber.

Attacking on “spread the wealth” pulls together all the attacks McCain makes against Obama: he’ll raise taxes, he’s an elitist who doesn’t understand “real people” and – most of all – he’s black and he’ll give the money to blacks.

Fundamentally, talking about Joe the Plumber is a way for McCain to talk about race without being accused of talking about race.

Note what McCain said in North Carolina Saturday: Obama says he’ll cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans making less than $250,000, but 40 percent of those people don’t pay taxes. (And you know who “those people” are, don’t you?)

McCain went on: The government will write a check to those people. Give them a handout. And you know where the government will get the money, don’t you?

This puts Obama in the role McCain wants him in for the final scene McCain wants to set for Americans: There is an honest, salt-of-the-earth, hardworking (and white) guy – Joe (you). There are people who aren’t working – Them. And there is an out-of-touch elitist who wants to take Joe’s money (yours) and give it to Them.

Obama had better understand the threat this presents. He had better explain that “spread the wealth” means that Obama won’t put hedge-fund managers making $250 million a year ahead of average Americans. And he had better explain to Joe the Plumber – and Jane the Office Manager – why they will do better under an Obama administration than a McCain administration.

Every campaign has its X Factor. This could be the one that turns this game upside down in the final two minutes. Obama has to fight back, not sit back.

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