"Just words," and borrowed ones at that
The Clinton campaign has accused Barack Obama of plagiarism in connection with a speech he gave which borrowed generously from one given by Deval Patrick when he ran for governor of Massachusetts. Specifically, Obama tracked Patrick's words when he said:
“Don’t tell me words don’t matter! ‘I have a dream.’ Just words. ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ Just words! ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself.’ Just words — just speeches!”
Patrick had said in response to his Massachusetts political opponent:
But her dismissive point, and I hear it a lot from her staff, is that all I have to offer is words — just words. ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, [applause and cheers] that all men are created equal.’ [Sustained applause and cheers.] Just words – just words! ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself.’ Just words! ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.’ Just words! ‘I have a dream.’ Just words!
Campaign speeches are not books, law review notes, or even blog posts, so I'm not sure it's plagiarism to borrow riffs from someone else's stump rant. Indeed, few politicians offer their own words, as opposed to those of paid writers, in their speeches. It is a bit ironic, though, that Obama would defend himself against charges that all he has to offer is words by borrowing the words of another politician.
Speaking of law review notes, Matthew Franck at NRO's Bench Memos, has suggested that Obama never published one when he was on the Harvard Law Review. Yet Obama famously became that publication's president, the first African-American to do so.
My law review experience was at another school in another era. Yet it would strike me as quite odd if Obama was able to hold the Harvard Law Review's top position without having published anything in that journal.
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