Do you want to know how desperate the Clinton campaign is to stop the gathering momentum of the Obama campaign on the eve of primaries in Wisconsin and Hawaii?
Consider the accusations being leveled by the Clinton camp that the Illinois senator is guilty of plagiarizing words of an Obama supporter, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick.
The similarities between Obama’s and Patrick’s rhetoric has long been noted. (See here. Thanks to Justin Webb.)
James Fallows no doubt speaks for most people when considering these “charges” from Senator Clinton’s forces. “The ‘plagiarism’ flap over Barack Obama is bogus and overstated,” he writes. “It makes me think worse about whoever is pushing this complaint, rather than about Obama himself.”
He goes on:
Conceivably Obama would have been wiser to introduce his recent discourse on the role of “hope” by saying, “As my friend the governor of Massachusetts has often pointed out….” But please: A candidate on the stump utters tens of thousands of words every single day. Few of those can be “original” in any deep sense. For many of the words, even the most brilliant candidate relies on help from people whose job is to think of newer and better ways to make the campaign’s point.* We should be suspicious of candidates who don’t seek this kind of help; it suggests that they are naive about the tradeoffs, triage, and delegation necessary to run a campaign well, let alone an Administration.
The Clinton accusations remind me of the, perhaps mythical, candidate who said that his opponent’s wife, involved in amateur theater, was a well-known thespian. Even if technically true, though Patrick does seem to give Obama permission to use his words, the charges really say nothing about Obama’s fitness to be president.
But the charges do say that the Clinton camp is deperate to do something–anything–to stop the Obama train from rolling over the New York senator’s efforts to become the nominee.
The advantage gained by the charges is that they put Obama on the defensive.
Unfortunately, they also soak up attention and energy that might more profitably be used to address issues like the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, global warming, and other vital matters.
Will it work for Clinton? Only time will tell.