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February 22, 2008

Voice of Panic, part 2

From a report on the Democratic debate by The New York Times:

Playing off a trademark line of Mr. Obama’s, she said: “Lifting whole passages from someone else’s speeches is not change you can believe in. It’s change you can Xerox.”

The comment elicited loud groans and some applause from the audience at the University of Texas at Austin.

Mr. Obama softly spoke over her, saying, “Oh, but that’s not what happened there,” yet eventually chose not to engage, saying he wanted to reply only to her criticism on the issues. A moment earlier, though, he had defended his use of Mr. Patrick’s language, saying that it was limited to two lines--and that the criticisms reflected a “silly season in politics.”

“The notion that I had plagiarized from somebody who’s one of my national co-chairs who gave me the line and suggested that I use it, I think is silly,” he said to applause and laughter.

I don't care to go into a long explanation of plagiarism right now. But I will say this: What constitutes plagiarism is not the same across rhetorical contexts. Clinton's charge only works if we accept an academic or journalistic context. Obama, however, is not writing scholarly or journalistic texts for scholarly or journalistic purposes. Further, it seems clear (and on the record) that Obama and Patrick have given each other permission to share good lines. 



Posted by acline at February 22, 2008 8:53 AM | | Spotlight