you played it for her, you can play it for me

Apparently it's big news that Barack Obama used some words and ideas in a speech that had previously been used by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.  At least, NPR kept reporting on it when I was listening in the car.  Obama acknowledged he got the idea from Patrick, and said it would've been a good idea to credit him.  Patrick said he and Obama talk a lot about ideas for speeches, and he didn't think a citation was necessary.  (Since we're on the subject, I'm paraphrasing only slightly from here.)  But Clinton campaign adviser Howard Wolfson says that's not good enough.

Wolfson said the plagiarism charge still holds because listeners go in with the assumption that Obama's speeches are original, unless credit is given. "So I think it's fine that Deval Patrick said that," Wolfson said. "But what I'm concerned about is that the public has an expectation that Sen. Obama's words are his own."

Out in the blog world people are digging up possible plagiarism in Clinton speeches, so we can play who-did-it-first.  But I just don't get it.  These people employ speechwriters.  They are speaking words that other people wrote all the time.  Why is Wolfson shocked, shocked, that Obama doesn't just make everything up himself?

Anyway, here's my idea:  Let's keep the campaign for the presidency focused on who'd be better at leading the free world, and leave the ruminations on plagiarism to people who have something interesting to say.

Blogged with Flock