Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Obama's State of the Union Was Tantamount to Plagiarism
US News & World Report ^ | January 26, 2011 | Alvin Felzenberg

Posted on 01/26/2011 3:34:28 PM PST by No One Special

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, what can be said of plagiarism? President Obama’s second State of the Union address contained enough recycled ideas and lines lifted from speeches of others to make historians wince. I suppose this is what one does when one not only has nothing new to say, but is required by custom and Constitution to come forth with a report of some kind by a certain time and day.

Had Obama or his writers been considerate enough to have informed listeners of where some of the president’s best lines and offered-up ideas originated, the speech might be remembered for its cutting and pasting of great and not-so-great moments of the past performance of others. After quoting Robert Kennedy early on, Obama tried to have his listeners believe that everything else he said that we might remember were his or his writers’ creations. Had the president submitted the text of his second State of the Union Address in the form of a college term paper, he would have been sent forthwith to the nearest academic dean. Once again, our public affairs are such that we have one standard for presidents and another for undergraduates. Now is as good a time as any to let Obama’s listeners in on what the late Paul Harvey would have termed “the rest of the story.”

Early in his address, Obama said that he wanted the nation he leads to be a "light to the world." The last president who set such a mission for the nation he led, and in those exact words, was Woodrow Wilson.

Obama’s concept of the “American family” may well have had its origins in the first State of the State address New York Governor Mario Cuomo delivered in 1983.

(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: gingrich; plagerism; sotu; winningthefuture
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-39 last
To: No One Special

Who did he plagiarize it from?

MLK?

Ooops


21 posted on 01/26/2011 3:49:22 PM PST by A_Former_Democrat (The Rodney King Riots: Courtesy of ABC, CBS, NBC & CNN)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TheBattman

But it is plagiarism to do the “echoing” without giving proper credit/citation.

Bull. You sound like a tired, old school marm. People do it ALL THE TIME. Reagan didn’t cite John Gillespe Magee in his Challenger speech? No.


22 posted on 01/26/2011 3:50:19 PM PST by Tublecane
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: paulycy
Biden wrote it.

LOL!

23 posted on 01/26/2011 3:53:05 PM PST by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: TheBattman

But it is plagiarism to do the “echoing” without giving proper credit/citation.

For those of you who don’t know, Reagan did not write “”They slipped the surly bonds of Earth and touched the face of God.”


24 posted on 01/26/2011 3:53:13 PM PST by Tublecane
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: No One Special
Obama is a total fraud from start to finish and he is almost finished.
25 posted on 01/26/2011 3:57:02 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: No One Special

and this statement is from US News and World Report! i’m stuned


26 posted on 01/26/2011 3:57:07 PM PST by MissDairyGoodnessVT
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: No One Special
Take the Poll - (Was President Obama’s State of the Union Speech a Success?)

Results

He's losing big time.
27 posted on 01/26/2011 3:59:28 PM PST by No One Special
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: No One Special

But one thing that came from him and him only...
Riding the train you won’t have to get patted down LOL everyone.
What does he think no terrorist are going to touch his
train project...


28 posted on 01/26/2011 4:04:17 PM PST by savage woman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tublecane
It’s not a crime to echo the words of others.

If the words are with copyright and taken without attribution, then yes, I believe it can be a crime.

Swiping uncopyrighted (if that's the word) lines from others' speeches at a wholesale rate is, if not a crime, an example of a character and honesty vacuum.

29 posted on 01/26/2011 4:05:17 PM PST by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Seaplaner
Mark Lavin is all over this on his radio show today....

complete with line item references to the original speeches..

0bambi and teleprompters outed again.

30 posted on 01/26/2011 4:11:44 PM PST by spokeshave (Issa is a self-made man. He was in the military doing bomb disposal, must be pretty fearless.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Gator113
The funny thing was, last night he had a line in the speech where he talked about children being the first in their families to go to college... When I heard it I immediately looked at Biden and I could swear a little smile creased his face.
31 posted on 01/26/2011 4:12:59 PM PST by jpf (http://flood-mybigmouth.blogspot.com/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: MissDairyGoodnessVT
i’m stuned
Sounds series.
32 posted on 01/26/2011 4:17:30 PM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: No One Special

Someone posted “When I see BO’s lips move, I know he’s lying.” When will people wise up to the fact that BO Plenty is an empty suit.


33 posted on 01/26/2011 4:19:53 PM PST by mohresearcher
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: oh8eleven

:D


34 posted on 01/26/2011 4:26:07 PM PST by MissDairyGoodnessVT
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: No One Special

Mel’s Hole is more believable than that SOTU speech


35 posted on 01/26/2011 4:27:04 PM PST by MissDairyGoodnessVT
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Obama failed to drive home the urgency of the debt burden. His motivational references were benign and out of context. There is but one statement he could have borrowed and should have quoted,

   "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems -- government is the problem".


36 posted on 01/26/2011 4:39:07 PM PST by Gene Eric (Your Hope has been redistributed. Here's your Change.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All

I keep wondering how Obama kept a straight face and didn’t fall out from embarrassment when he talked about this:
***********************************************************
“Obama informed his listeners that salmon comes under the jurisdiction of one department when swimming in fresh water and under another when swimming in salt water.”
***********************************************************

Did he think we would forget THIS?!!!

June 4, 2009
A prominent regional conservationist was appointed the first-ever Great Lakes czar Wednesday, making good on President Barack Obama’s campaign promise to elevate the health of the Great Lakes as a national issue.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/46866622.html

Wednesday, September 08, 2010
CHICAGO — The White House has tapped a former leader of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the Indiana Wildlife Federation as the Asian carp czar to oversee the federal response to keeping the invasive species out of the Great Lakes.
http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2010/09/obama_names_carp_czar_to_overs.html

Fool, he is a damn fool.


37 posted on 01/26/2011 4:51:21 PM PST by Irenic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: RC2
He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them . . . .

Art. II, Sec. 3.

Until the 20th Century, the SOTU was generally delivered in writing.

38 posted on 01/26/2011 4:56:55 PM PST by colorado tanker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: RC2
"He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient."

— Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution

He could have written a letter and saved most of us a bunch of time.

39 posted on 01/26/2011 6:28:48 PM PST by upchuck (When excerpting please use the entire 300 words we are allowed. No more one or two sentence posts!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-39 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson