Obama, Patrick Collaboration Noted Specifically By Globe Back In April 2007

Fresh accusations of plagiarism are being hurled at Barack Obama for his use of language on the stump that directly mirrors speeches given by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. But there is no fresh news here: in fact, this rhetorical connection between the two pols was noted by the Boston Globe way back in April of 2007.

In an article titled, "Patrick, Obama campaigns share language of 'hope,'" Globe reporter Scott Helman noted that the "just words" theme of Deval Patrick's speech were born out of accusations that mirror the ones Obama is facing now, and that Obama was present on one occasion when Patrick deployed the language:

Of all the things Deval Patrick's Republican opponent threw at him in last year's governor's race, one charge that stuck in his craw was that his speeches were more fluff than substance -- that they were, in Patrick's telling, "just words." So he devised an artful response.

" 'We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal' -- just words," Patrick said at a rally in Roxbury right before Election Day. " 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself' -- just words. . . . 'I have a dream' -- just words. They're all just words."

The crowd erupted as it got Patrick's point about the power of language. But perhaps no one at the rally understood the point better than Barack Obama, who had joined him on stage that night.

Similarly, the article from April 2007 specifically mentioned that the Obama campaign had every intention of studying the success of his friend, Patrick, as a model for his own Presidential run:

In the midst of his improbable run for office, Obama and his advisers have evidently studied Patrick's up-from-nowhere victory in Massachusetts and are borrowing themes, messages, and even specific lines for the presidential campaign.

Both men were said by the Globe to be -- at the time -- "learning from and feeding off each other." The root of their shared rhetoric was identified as David Axelrod, who advised both campaigns. And while Patrick did notably back away from using Obama's "Yes we can" refrain -- Patrick campaign advisor Dan Payne said at the time, "We definitely didn't want to copy him, Deval takes pride in his words and he wants to use them uniquely" -- there's no indication that either man objected to sharing rhetorical flourishes.

Similarly, there wasn't any indication back in April of last year that this matter was any cause for concern or complaint. State Democratic Party chair Phillip W. Johnston spoke of the two men with admiration: "We all said that we could have closed our eyes when Obama spoke [and] it could have been Deval. To us it was a similar kind of message. It's a message that transcends partisan politics."

[h/t: Unfogged]

Comments

[vsign]

Words are important! Obama is so weak, his followers have to carry him. He's their savior, so they don't mind.

Well - The Democratic Party can't afford "to carry" Obama. He can never beat McCain, not even as a democrat. We've got to drop him FAST!

Stand on your own feet Obama. Speak your own words.

[etc]

Yes!

[enoughalready13]

OBAMA, dude, GET SOME SUBSTANCE AND SOME ORIGINAL MATERIAL! Stop borrowing from people, copying others and being ARROGANT about it! AND REIGN IN YOUR WIFE! She's sounding A LOT like Bill Clinton!!!!!!!

[sjl106]

This isn't the first time obama has plagerized others words in his speeches. The following was lifted from Native American's and/or a title of a book, as shown in the following links.

"We are the ones we've been waiting for." - Barack Obama on Super Tuesday

http://www.spiritofmaat.com/messages/oct28/hopi.htm

http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/wearetheones.html

Obama also likes to lift others polocies and claim them as his own.

. "Obama's (economic) plan. is the most shameless piece of potential plagiarism that I have ever seen. He basically took Clinton's words and Clinton's policies and called them his own. If I were a professor I'd give him an F and try to get him kicked out of school," said Kevin Hassett, Sen. John McCain's economic advisor and the Director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute

And more

http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/02/13/professor-obamas-political-plagiarism/

[TheInsomniac]

If you are citing McCain's economic adviser you do not have a crippled leg to stand on. McCain, of course, would rather face Hillary in the election because he's seen the polls that you apparently have not.

[Kreskytim]

"We have nothing to fear but fear itself", "I have a dream...", "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country".
Obama: "yes we can"
Just doesn't have the same impact.

[Ides]

"That is the true genius of America, a faith -- a faith in simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles; that we can tuck in our children at night and know that they are fed and clothed and safe from harm; that we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door; that we can have an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe; that we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution, and that our votes will be counted -- at least most of the time."
--Barack Obama, Keynote Address 2004

[swanky]

Obviously he's never tried to start a business.

[Kreskytim]

I remember when the media compared George W Bush favorably to Lincoln from a speech he gave after 9/11.
Don't be fooled.
Hitler was a great orator and move his country up from a great depression after WWI. I'm not at ALL saying that Obama is Hitler. I'm just saying oratory without a define agenda is ????
who knows?

[swanky]

It's the emptiest vessel that makes the loudest noise.

[joh]

Some people are better at reciting speeches; others are better at running the country. It's amazing to me how people get sucked into believing all kinds of things about good speakers. I know someone who could get their voice to crack at just the right point in the middle of an inspirational speech. I heard that speech 20 times and 20 times the voice cracked in the same spot. Practice.

Hillary Clinton for President!

[TheInsomniac]

Ironically, all of our nation's BEST presidents were GREAT orators - Lincoln, FDR, JFK, and many more. You must have been asleep in those classes.

[Cid]

Bush could string three words together..­.that's worked out really well, huh.

[Kreskytim]

Obama copied a winning campaign theme, Gov Patrick's, and made it his own. He took Patrick's " Together we can" and changed it to "Yes we can". He also copied the message of "hope". He did this with the OK of his friend the Governor. So one thing it shows is that Obama is not some unique once in a lifetime politician. In fact he is running the exact same campaign that his friend used to win in Mass.
Obama has been selling himself like a new pair of Nike's and people have been lapping it up.
All campaign use themes and slogans to sell their candidate. That's how it's done and Obama has been great at it. I just think a lot of people have been very naive and believe that he is above politics when he is really just a masterful politician.

[RusStyles]

Jesse Jackson ran on the hope theme. I'm sure previous politicians did likewise. There is no new idea. What's different or unique about Obama's message is the style. Hill can read the exact same speech, and fail to deliver the same level of belief and inspiration; his voice simply exudes greater energy and conifidence.

[unclefarrell]

Try staying original 24-7 for two years. Please!

[unclefarrell]

Try giving ten speeches a day non-stop for a couple of years and see if you can stay totally original. Paleeeeeeeez!

[swanky]

Ooops. Didn't think it would catch up with him. 10 speeches a day? You really think that's what he does. He has ten speeches that he just rotates in random order. Not to mention Theodore Olsen and his crew to write for him. He's got nothing to run on, and nothing to say, so he does what any other cheating liar would do - steal from his friends.

[unclefarrell]

A bit of hypebole on my part; neverthele­ss,borrowi­ng themes in politics is not unusual. Comedians say there are only seven basic jokes, for example. BTW I'm a Hillary supporter but don't have the vitriol you hold for Obama. Relax.

[Issak]

OMG! what?! Obama ain't perfect? does that mean that as he hovers over the ground blessing the crowds- he simultaneously plagiarizes? does not matter, the faithful will believe no matter what. Boosh followers don't have a monopoly on gullability- not by a long shot.

[PTTY]

Who was it that defined neurosis as repeating the same mistake again and again, and expecting a better outcome each time? That’s really what the Clinton campaign is doing in its post-Chesapeake primary strategy. Now Hillary defines Obama as the candidate who makes speeches, while she is the one who provides “answers” and “solutions­.”

Why is Hillary embracing this new line? It’s not that she has any great record of solutions or answers of which to boast

Of course experience not only didn’t work. It backfired massively. By co-opting the experience tag, Hillary bought into the status quo and left Obama to be the agent of change. A candidacy that could have excited tens of millions of women, the first serious prospect of a female president, became merely a boring part of the status quo, shorn of its novelty.

Hillary’s claim to be the solution-person won’t work either for the same simple reason: She hasn’t passed any. . She hasn’t walked the walk so now she cannot talk the talk.

As a first lady, Hillary’s sole important legislative involvement came during the first two years of her husband’s presidency when she sought to pass her ill-conceived health care reform, an effort that failed so miserably that it cost her party control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years.

Between 1995 to 1997, she was largely absent from the White House, traveling the world, promoting her best selling book and helping to raise funds. She never attended strategy meetings and her only intervention in the singular legislative achievements of Bill’s administration — welfare reform and the balanced budget deal — was privately to urge a veto of the former and to oppose the latter because it provided for a cut in the capital gains tax.

Hillary returned to the White House in 1998 to oversee the defense to the Lewinsky scandal and the impeachment attempt, but the Clinton administration essentially folded its legislative efforts during those years and hung on for dear life.
No portfolio of accomplishments there.

[bobdob]

This is just desperation on the part of the Clinton campaign. It's petty and pathetic and it only reinforces peoples' negative view that the Clintons will say or do anything to get elected.

[MizJ]

Just for the record: aside from his lofty rhetoric, Deval Patrick is a total loser. I should know, I voted for him in 2006 and the guy is an empty suit. The Dems answer to the prior governor, Mitt Romney. We need to know a little bit more about Sen Obama.

[ntdev]

If you want to search something online, you can google it;
if you want copy&paste something, you can obama it.

[ntdev]

If you want to search something online, you can google it;
if you want copy&paste something, you can obama it.

[dwt]

If you think you're the soul of wit but actually are a clueless egotistical moron, you can post the same drivel twice.
I wonder: does that amount to plagarizing yourself?

[beebop]

Karl Rove is giggling like a school girl. This is nothing. If he is so lazy as to use someone else's words and then not give credit, imagine what the Repubs have found .... he's gotten a little full of himself.

[lindalee]

Obama just said on TV that that he and Patrick borrowed language from each other.... Can you give ONE example that supports that statement? In other words, what did Patrick borrow from Obama?

[hank48188]

ABC and NBC both covered this story and played the comments from Obama and Patrick back-to-back for the viewers, and FOX covered it too

[hotspur1021]

I'm actually kind of disappointed in Obama. I thought he was different.­..I thought he wasn't another politico..­.I'm feeling a little bit confused right now.

[ntdev]

After learning a tough lesson from this cheater, you'll be more alerted if somebody else comes again pretending to be a "Uniter" yet inspiring nothing but hatred against his fellow DEM candidate.

[dwt]

Get real. Obama doesn't "inspire hatred" against Hilary or anyone. What planet are you from?

Hilary, with her transparent pandering; her ubiguitous, egomaniacal husband who can't seem to STFU; and her disorganized, increasingly desperate, and Karl Rovian campaign, inspire their own contempt. They are doing just fine inviting hatred all by themselves.

[jsomerville5]

Yawn. Let's move along, shall we ?

[EvoMan]

Why? He and a friend shared ideas. So what. If you read through the previous comments, you'll see that Senator Clinton doesn't have a leg to stand on in this matter.

[Beve83]

Why?? These guys are friends. They both were advised by Axelrod. They both ran the same campaign. Its not like it came out that he had an affair (which I think would really finish him, but I think Michelle is taking care of him on that front). Patrick even issued a statement on this. My response, next! If this is the best that they've got on Obama, he'll be ok guys. He'll stand his ground.

[veracal]

Oh please, stop the dramatics.