Obama Plagiarizes Patrick Deval (Gov, D, MA)

The similiarity between comments by Obama and Massachussetts Gov. Deval Patrick was posted about by jackson_dem on another “Just Words” thread in GDP. I thought it deserved a thread of its own, because it looks like an instance of plagiarism to me. Obama appeared to use Patrick’s words but gave no attribution to Patrick.

Decide for yourself, though. The video links (posted by others elsewhere and copied to this post) are below. I did my best to transcribe the area I think is suspect, but I may have missed something.

Barack Obama (video link from jackson_dem’s post)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ffwY74XbS4
“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.”

Deval Patrick (video link from jefferson_dem’s post)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dboIpZ8ool8
“But her (Patrick’s Republican opponent, Kerry Healy, not Hillary) dismissive point…is that all I have to offer is words. Just words. (Pauses) ‘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. ‘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.”…SOURCE

Send post as PDF to

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!