Barack Obama is getting hit by the Hillary Clinton campaign for alleged plagiarism in part of a speech Obama delivered on Saturday in Wisconsin. It doesn't seem on its face to be a huge deal for one politician to borrow a good line from another politician, but it does take away from Obama's aura of authenticity and originality as a candidate just a bit. (The video of the Patrick and Obama speeches can be viewed here.)
But is this borrowing just a one time incident, or part of a pattern going right to the heart of Obama's deep message of hope and change? We found some disturbing video evidence that suggests it is a pattern. Readers can decide for themselves; the video is here (Warning: may be disturbing to some viewers). We report, you decide.
The New York Times reports that last week Barack and Deval, who are good friends, had a conversation and that Deval suggested that Barack use these lines, and Deval sent Barack a copy of the speech for his use.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/us/politics/18video.html?ref=politics
Furthermore, Hillary herself has led chants of "Yes we can" at her campaign rallies, and also, she attacked Barack by asking "Where's the beef?" which was the phrase used by Walter Mondale to attack Gary Hart in 1984 (and also was lifted from a Wendy's commercial).
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/01/hillary_on_obama_wheres_the_beef.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug75diEyiA0
Comment by julie — February 18, 2008 @ 10:23 pm February 18, 2008
Using a short two or three word well-known catchphrase is not at all analogous to borrowing an entire paragraph from someone else's speech.
Comment by The Editors — February 19, 2008 @ 7:02 am February 19, 2008