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Clinton Camp: Lifting of Rhetoric Questions Premise of Obama Candidacy
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ShareFebruary 18, 2008 1:40 PM
ABC News' Teddy Davis and Sunlen Miller Report: The Clinton campaign highlighted charges Monday that Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illi., lifted rhetoric in a speech over the weekend about the power of words from a 2006 speech by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
"The power of his rhetoric has been much discussed," said Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson, referring to Obama. "So when we learned that he has taken an important section of a speech from another elected official, it raises questions about the premise of his candidacy."
"It makes those words much less inspiring; less authentic and more political," he added.
The similarities between Obama and Patrick's speeches were first reported by ABC News' Jake Tapper.
Watch a video of the Patrick and Obama speeches circulated by the Clinton campaign here.
Patrick, who supports Obama for president, has defended the Illinois Democrat for using his refrain without attribution. But Clinton's spokesman argued on a conference call with reporters that regardless of how Patrick feels, harm was done to Obama's audience, and he compared it to an author who plagiarizes the work of another.
"When an author plagiarizes from another author there is damage done to the person" who wrote the words. "The other" damage "is to the reader who has a set of assumptions and expectations when you read those words that they are the author's unless they are appropriately credited."
"I think it's fine that Deval Patrick said that," added Wolfson. "What I'm concerned about is that the public has an expectation that the words are his own unless he credited them to someone else."
The Clinton camp believes that Obama' s lifting of rhetoric without attribution is especially damaging to the Illinois Democrat because his speeches have played an important role in his rise from state senator three years ago to Democratic presidential frontrunner.
"When you are running on your rhetoric and the power of your oratory," said Wolfson, "I think it undermines a central" element "of his candidacy."
During a press conference in Niles, Ohio, on Monday, Obama said he and Patrick trade ideas all the time while adding that he probably should have given Patrick credit.
Asked if he sees a parallel between Obama and the 1988 downfall of Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., when he lifted rhetoric from a British Labor politician, Wolfson passed on the chance to weigh in.
"I am not truly familiar enough with the 1988 incident to be able to answer," said Wolfson.
February 18, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (1)
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Just the next Clinton move. Did they finally realize that saying speeches don't matter would cut into Bill's money making venture. He has brought in millions doing something that is useless?
How silly and desperate can Hillary get?
While they at it they should go after McCain using "fired up ready to go."
Meanwhile, where it counts. 20,000 tickets for the Obama Rally in ticket are gone.
They are just jealous.
Posted by: Jan | Feb 18, 2008 2:08:48 PM
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