Petty Party Politics & Plagiarism
Although Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign is behind in the delegate count, it apparently has no plans to roll over and die any time soon. The nomination game is in the seventh inning stretch and the Clinton campaign appears ready to play hardball for the remaining large primary states.
The Clinton camp accused Senator Barack Obama of plagiarism today based on a speech Sen. Obama gave over the weekend. While giving a speech to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin on Saturday, Senator Obama used part of a Governor Deval Patrick speech - a speech Patrick gave in 2006 during his quest for the governorship of Massachusetts. Sen. Obama has admitted that he should have credited the words he used Saturday to Gov. Deval Patrick.
Governor Patrick issued a statement,
"Sen. Obama and I are long-time friends and allies. We often share ideas about politics, policy and language. The argument in question, on the value of words in the public square, is one about which he and I have spoken frequently before. Given the recent attacks from Sen. Clinton, I applaud him responding in just the way he did."
Obama also fired back at the Clinton campaign by suggesting that Sen. Clinton has stolen one of his campaign slogans, "We're fired up and ready to go". Video footage has been supplied to validate Obama's assertions. However, Clinton's campaign suggests that Obama actually plagiarized part of a campaign speech and did not give proper credit. They also assert that plagiarizing a speech is different than borrowing a slogan. It should be noted too that both Obama and Clinton have borrowed "Yes We Can" from late Latino civil rights leader, César Chávez.
How much of an impact this latest salvo will have on this Democratic beauty contest remains to be seen. Clinton's barrage could potentially backfire and she could be viewed as a petty politician whose campaign is gasping for air. The shrewd maneuver by the Clinton camp is obviously a risk the Clinton campaign feels is necessary to demonstrate Senator Obama is long on words and short on substance.The assertion by the Clinton campaign, no matter how petty or desperate it seems, does put into question Senator Barack Obama's credibility. The Clinton campaign planting seeds of doubt about Senator Obama's authenticity can change the public's perception of him - even if the shift is miniscule. But it might be too late. With a few state primaries left, the primary season is almost near its end.
For me, all of this silliness, no matter how intriguing and entertaining, helps to strengthen my case for leaving the Democratic Party.
Labels: Politics
posted by Terrence | 5:48 PM
4 Comments:
I have been saying this for a long time, Obama's authenticity is highly questionable. It is a big of an ugly irony that while Obama attests that his campaign is not just about lofty rhetoric, he is yet using the same lofty rhetoric from another politician. Barack does not write his own speeches, he performs them. He performs the speeches quite well, well enough to pack in the crowds, but he does not write anything he says. Usually, his main speech writer (who is incidientally is the young 26 year old white man Jon Favreau) often lifts various passages the straight out of the speeches spoken during the 60's civil rights era. If that is all Obama has going for him, just a performance, how can we truly expect him to bring about change?
This is a highly legitimate concern. If anything, it is disturbing that some pundits have been calling the plagiarism "no big deal." Yet, Obama has been relying on words, on the power of language, on emotionally charged language dating all the way back from Jefferson through Martin Luther Kind Jr. to Jesse Jackson and to Deval Patrick, who is conveniently a friend and an ardent supporter who naturally alleges that Obama had his consent. He has been lifting choice phrases for all his speeches, and that has been effective for him. But, this latest rather hefty chunk of lifted verbatim is almost a lie. Couldn't he have simply rewritten the text to make it more his own? He is not running on experience, nor or substance, but on the power of his words. If his words are not his own, what does he have left. His Audacity of Hope, as it turns out, was actually a collaboration. How much writing in his second book did he actually contribute? We need a candidate who can be trusted, not one who takes extreme shortcuts.
Wow Chris, your words almost echo my sentiments.
I've learned a lot about this guy, and I've tried to be objective, but my gut has told me to approach with caution.
Although I feel the tug, he just isn't clicking for me.
Oh gosh Chris I'm with Terrence. You took the words right of my mouth. Obama is a performer. We've already had one actor for president and look at how that turned out.........
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