When Obama Plagiarizes It’s Called “Repackaging”

American Spectator - Wednesday July 20, 2016

by Aaron Goldstein

I suppose we can’t be surprised that Melania Trump is held to a higher standard than President Obama when it comes to speeches. 

Amidst the outrage over Mrs. Trump’s speech containing passages of Michelle Obama’s 2008 DNC remarks, it was pointed out that during that same year Hillary Clinton had taken Mrs. Obama’s husband to task for lifting portions from Deval Patrick’s stump speech during his 2006 Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign. 

Caught red-handed you might think.

No, when Obama plagiarizes a speech, it’s called “repackaging” as suggested in this Boston Magazine article by Spencer Buell. The article’s tag line reads, “There’s no real comparison between the RNC fiasco and Barack Obama’s re-packaging of Deval Patrick’s words in 2008.” Buell further explains:

Patrick, a friend and booster of the candidate, would later come to Obama’s aid and dismiss the allegations as just another pointless line of attack. Patrick even encouraged him to use the phrases, Obama said at the time, while claiming to regret not citing his source.

“I was on the stump, and he had suggested that we use these lines. I thought they were good lines. I’m sure I should have—didn’t this time,” Obama said, according to CBS.

In 2008, Slate’s Jack Shafer noted how well Obama fared against Clinton’s accusations. A lot of that had to do with the Obama-Patrick relationship and their similarities. He wrote:

Patrick and Obama, who rely on the same campaign wizard, David Axelrod, have shared enough campaign rhetoric to be declared separated at birth, as this Boston Globe article from 10 months ago shows. Here’s additional evidence of Patrick-Obama sharing from Jake Tapper’s blog. As someone who has endorsed and advised Obama, Patrick occupies the position of a campaign volunteer or even a collaborator. Given the conventions of campaign oratory, I’d have a hard time diagnosing plagiarism on Obama’s part—as opposed to poor form—unless Patrick alleged that his friend fleeced his words, which he hasn’t and won’t.

Well, The First Lady hasn’t commented on the matter at this point. It hasn’t prevented the mainstream media from indicting Mrs. Trump. Of course, she shouldn’t have used Michelle Obama’s words. Why stoop to her level? But I’m far less concerned about Melania Trump’s words than I am about her husband’s. I’m also far less concerned about Melania Trump’s words than I am about the words of President Obama (especially when he lectures police officers burying their own). The same can’t be said of the mainstream media.

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