Just Words: Did Barack Obama Plagiarize Governor Deval Patrick's Speech?

The fight for the Democratic nomination has reached its pinnacle of intensity and correspondingly, the mudslinging between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton (shown on the same stage to the left) has reached its height. When these attacks take place in a controlled forum such as a national televised debate, it’s easy for interested Americans to extract the arguments directly from the candidates in real time. At this stage relatively late in the primary season, however, mudslinging comes in the form of staggered headlines, as candidates make accusations in speeches, campaigns respond in press releases, and rebuttals are only are only directed at one crowd in one state. In these cases, we must be able to extract reliable information from second-hand sources in order to draw our own conclusions about these arguments and to separate fact from spin.

Today, Hillary Clinton likened a segment of Barack Obama’s speech delivered on Sunday in Wisconsin to one delivered in 2006 by Gov. Deval Patrick (shown with Barack Obama on the right) to a crowd in Massachusetts; a video has surfaced on Youtube with a side-by-side comparison of the speeches. The similarities between the two segments are unmistakable, and both sides agree that indeed Obama used Patrick's words and ideas; however, while the Hillary Clinton camp has cried plagiarism, Obama maintains that he simply borrowed the words with the Governor's consent. An attempt to make sense of the situation led me to the blogosphere, which has erupted with editorials on the subject. I have found two particularly persuasive posts, each with a unique perspective on the argument. Although the posts are in contention, I found valuable points on each which I have provided my own insight. The first post by Sylvia Welsh for The Huffington Post stresses the salience of this revelation and the implications on Barack Obama's character. The second post written by Sean Hackbarth on his blog The American Mind dismisses the plagiarism accusations with technical interpretations of the term. I have provided a link to my comments on both posts, and for your convenience I have also pasted them below.

Desperate Clinton Accuses Obama Of Plagiarism
Comment:

Thank you for your very informative and engaging post on the plagiarism battle currently ensuing between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It is so important that we closely analyze accusations by candidates and your insight has built a powerful case against the use of ‘plagiarism’ in this context. I wholeheartedly agree that context is an vital component of this discussion and that plagiarism is a politically charged word that does not accurately characterize the use of Governor Deval Patrick’s words and ideas in Sen. Obama’s recent speech. Consent is a big player in plagiarism and Gov. Patrick has confirmed he did authorize the use of his words by his friend Sen. Obama. At the same time, I think ‘sharing’ is too weak of a word for what took place. At best, Obama was a very irresponsible sharer, not even hinting that part of his speech was borrowed, even from a consenting friend. I know that as a university student, if I had transcribed and used that segment of Obama’s speech in a paper, I would be very alarmed if I found later that these words were not his own.

Along this same line, ‘desperation’ fails to accurately characterize the accusations made public by the Clinton campaign. It is true that the stakes are very high and the climate is very hostile; Barack Obama has carried nine consecutive states thus far and Hillary Clinton desperately needs a win to build momentum in her campaign. Nevertheless, I think pointing out Sen. Obama’s use of Gov. Patrick’s words was not simply a petty, political attack. Personally, the ‘exposition’ of Barack Obama did not drastically alter my assessment of his character. I did, however, appreciate learning information—presumably discovered by a sophisticated opposition research team—-that I would have been unable to otherwise find; Gov. Patrick made his speech over one year ago in Massachusetts and Sen. Obama made his speech to a crowd in Wisconsin—-two places I have not been.

Overall though, in assessing this battle over words, your quote from Governor Patrick was the most consequential, “The point is more important than whose argument it is.” Despite my feelings that this event is worth at least some of the headlines it’s receiving, I do not believe that this should take away from the Senator Obama’s ability to invigorate and activate crowds with his speeches or be used as a cheap tool to chip away at his character.

Barack Obama And Why It Matters That He Plagiarized A Speech (At Least One That We Know Of)
Comment:

I want to thank you first on providing a valuable, distinctive perspective on Barack Obama’s recent trouble with plagiarism. I too believe that the media downplay of the incident is unfortunate and that Barack Obama’s misstep has some relevant implications in the campaign for the presidential nomination. I particularly liked that you isolated the event to focus on Barack Obama’s actions without getting your point diminished as being part of an empty, pro-Hillary Clinton and anti-Barack Obama mudslinging war.

You used children in your examples, but given the record numbers of young people participating in the campaign, I felt a discussion of college students in particular should be included. I have personally weighed the significance of Barack Obama’s uncredited ‘borrowing’ of Governor Deval Patrick’s speech. I know that if I had, say, transcribed part of Obama’s speech for use in a paper, I would have been shocked to learn that I had mistakenly credited the Senator with writing words that were only lent to him. As academic integrity is a major part of most university student's scholarly careers and we are taught from day one to always cite the words of others, I would be confused by the mixed message sent by Obama, who has hardly accepted responsibility for his failure to credit Gov. Patrick. After all, Obama could have easily -- especially since he had permission -- made a quick nod at Gov. Patrick without diminishing the value of his words.

I do however disagree with you about the potential of Barack Obama to be a role model in light of this event. While I agree that character is an important consideration of a candidate and this event opens up more questions about Barack Obama’s character, I don’t think it should tell the whole story. First, we know through history that our best presidents have not always upheld high moral standards and that excellent characters don’t guarantee excellent presidents. Furthermore, I don’t think Barack Obama’s failure to cite Gov. Patrick renders him indecent and unethical. Obama has written several inspiring, influential speeches which have energized people of all ages. He should be praised for these endeavors and as a response to concerned Americans like you, he should amend his actions in future speeches.