Letters to the Editor
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Pretty Ironic
I have to say I find it pretty ironic that in a speech in which Obama was defending the value of his words, he had to steal someone else's. It's not the biggest crime in the world but there's no defense for it, especially not saying, "oh, Mr. Patrick doesn't care so why should we?" I doubt many historians really care when undergrads plagiarize from their work for term papers, but that doesn't somehow make it okay.
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@juneausmog
Juneausmog: "What has he said about Israel?"
For that matter, what has Clinton said about Israel? What is Barack Obama supposed to say about Israel? Both Clinton and Obama have pledged their support to Israel. Both of them have spoken to large groups of AIPAC members and supporters. Both have been given tentative stamps of approval by that faction, although they seem to favor Clinton more (perhaps Clinton promised to look the other way more when Israel steals more land?).
Juneausmog: "How can you be for clean energy but want nuclear power?"
The energy problem is difficult. Can you tell us that Hillary Clinton's position is any better? Clean energy is often a matter of compromise -- making polluters take more responsibility, investing more in research for uranium-rod disposal mathods, trying to get more efficiency from current systems, investing more in hydroelectric power, investing more in solar, focusing more on conservation, and about five dozen other things Obama's policy DOES address but not in a one-line answer.
Juneausmog: "How can you have universal healthcare that leaves 14MM people uninsured?"
Well HELLO Mr. Clinton Talking Point! There is no evidence that Obama's plan would leave all those people uninsured. I think the difference between Obama's policy and Clinton's is that Obama isn't promising something that he will have a hard time delivering. He's promising affordable healthcare, not an overnight transition to total 100% guaranteed 24-hour healthcare for every man, woman, child, cat, kitten, and pet rock who has the sniffles. There are major money issues involved. The important thing is that both Obama and Clinton do have plans for health-care overhauls that will compel health-care providers to more effectively insure and serve lower and middle class patients.
Juneausmog: "Why can't you freeze adjustable-rate mortgages for sub-prime mortgages; if S&L banks and other financing institutions get a bail-out, why not the little people?"
I think you got this one backwards. Clinton is the one who's promising more bail-outs for the big guys. I could be wrong and you're welcome to cite actual policy analysis sites that show otherwise. I think the problem is that Clinton's plan will likely drive up interest rates. Again, both candidates have pretty complicated takes on this problem and I'm sure both of their plans have pluses and minuses, but the general sense I get is that Obama will approach these problems carefully while Clinton is already promising to do X, Y, Z and 23 other letters of the alphabet that she most likely will not be able to deliver (if her past record is any indication).
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a short tangent on copyright
After I graduated from college I went to teach English in South Korea at a university for women. It was a great gig, but the ideas about copyright in Asia were still "coming around" (this was a few years back). I had a student who was supposed to watch an American movie over her choice and write a half page about it in English quote to me word for word from the back of a video box. Another student lifted a movie review from the New Yorker and then swore to me--using her friend to explain because her English wasn't strong enough to make the case--that she had written it herself. The university insisted that these students only punishment would be a do-over of that particular assignment.
Later I learned that "reverse plagiarism" is considered a more serious charge in South Korea (or was then). In other words there was so much pressure on students to quote from noted authorities that lazy students would assign their best ideas to the authorities they thought would give their papers the most gravitas...
Funny. In this case, if Obama says that he will give more credit next time, it seems like a stretch to make this a character flaw. Particularly when fair use seems to apply to most speeches. But let the arguing continue...And on the upside, now the name of Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will be known around the world. He will have renown....the guy Obama ripped off. Or riffed off of...depending on where the dust settles.
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When inspired by and copying collide
JFK and RFK and Ted Kennedy have borrowed heavily from poets, philosophers, and statesmen in their speeches. If not the exact words, many ideas, cadences, and words of others were the basis of their inspiration.
Plagiarism, in this case, especially since these phrases were lifted from a supporter, seems a bit over the top.
There is a pattern though, of Clinton hypersensitivity. Like "hemophiliacs in a razor blade factory." (Woody Allen - date unknown)
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The Clinton campaign's taste for shooting itself in the foot ...
leads to the conclusion that one gun control objective they should favor is the banning of unlicensed shotguns --
or they will all have to be called stumpy...
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Hill E. Coyote...SU-PERRR GENIUS!!!
Boy, Hillary sure is getting her money's worth from Mark Penn, isn't she? She goes from inevitability to barely holding her own against the guy she laughed off at the beginning. She raises 15 million more than any other candidate INCLUDING Obama, but is so broke by the end of January she has to loan herself money. She bets the farm on Super Tuesday being a decisive win in her favor, then has no coherent strategy of how to compete after that. She tries to smear Obama with Rezko, Exelon, cocaine and so on, then has to quickly ditch each argument when the issues blow up in her face. Now, she suggests Obama is a plagiarist when she has lifted slogans and statements from numerous sources, even trying to steal Obama's "Yes We Can!" chant at a rally in Ohio the same day Obama supposedly plagiarizes his friend who offered him the lines as a way to refute the criticism about him being "just words." This whole campaign has degenerated into Team Hillary as Wile E. Coyote and Obama as the Roadrunner. BEEP BEEP!