President's Day may be slow for the sake of generating news, but that is no reason to go negative over ridiculous accusations by the Clinton camp. Unfortunately spokesman Howard Wolfson did just that, claiming that Obama plagarized his supporter and Massachusetts' Governor Devall Patrick. Not only is this a non-issue, it is hypocritical of Wolfson to claim that Obama plagarizes by using similar language as Patrick while Hillary frequently rips off words from Barack himself.
From The Huffington Post:
Obama: "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: "'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal' -- 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?"The Obama campaign denied anything nefarious, noting that the two men are friends and political supporters of each other and that the line was, in fact, ad-libbed.
The Clinton camp, however, jumped right on the issue arguing that the use of someone else's language was telling for a candidate who leans so heavily on his oratory. The debate - aided, in part, by a relatively slow news day - culminated in dueling conference calls at 11 am on Monday morning.
"The issue whether or not there is approval is immaterial. The public did not know that the words had come from Gov. Patrick," said Clinton's spokesperson Howard Wolfson. We need a president, added Massachussetts Rep. Jim McGovern who is "not just someone who can copy someone's homework."
Moments later, Wolfson, in a separate interview with Politico, described Obama use of Patrick's earlier speech as "plagiarism."
In response to the charges, the Obama camp took a two-prong approach: downplaying the political significance of the language lifting and making the case that Sen. Hillary Clinton, herself, had borrowed lines from Obama.
Again, this is a ridiculous thing for Clinton or any of her people to bring up. Please focus on the issues and pay attention to the voters of Wisconsin and Hawaii. Oh wait, that is, if you are even going to bother staying in the state to listen to tomorrow's voters.
|