Obama: What’s A Little Plagiarism Between Friends?
Barack is shrugging off the (rather credible and pertinent, in my opinion) charges of plagiarism being leveled at him.
NILES, Ohio - Sen. Barack Obama said Monday that he doesn’t think it’s a big deal that he borrowed lines from his friend Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, although he probably should have given him credit. . . .
Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson accused Obama of plagiarizing Patrick, and that’s particularly troubling since Obama’s appeal is based in large part on his rhetorical skills.
“It raises questions about the premise of his candidacy,” Wolfson told reporters in a conference call.
Obama, D-Ill., says that’s going too far.
“Now hold on a second. Let’s see — I’ve written two books, wrote most of my speeches,” Obama told reporters at a news conference after touring a titanium plant.
“I’m happy to give Deval credit, as I give credit to a lot people for spurring all kinds of ideas,” he said. “But I think that it is fair to say that everything that we’ve been doing in generating excitement and the interest that people have in the election is based on the core belief in me that we need change in America.”
The problem is that other authors/speakers who do this sort of thing usually get fired. Or sued. Or, at the very least, criticized roundly by their peers.
Yes, Obama should have given Patrick credit for his words and trying to shrug that lack of credit off as nothing when you get caught after the fact just isn’t enough.
