Just Words
I think the pundits have missed what was really wrong about Obama's "Just words" speech. The charges of plagiarism don't really seem to stand because of his cozy relationship with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and it just isn't plagiarism when you have permission.
What was the real problem is that he was using his speeches focusing predominately on hope and change and comparing them to "I had a dream" and "We hold these truths to be self evident." This is rather egotistic in the first place and there is a great difference between his words and those words. For one Martin Luther King's words and activism were founded on action where his words matched something substantive with his movement of nonviolence and civil disobedience where he was willing to go to jail in face of these racial injustices. The words of the Declaration of Independence were also based on action and people willing to lay down their lives to defend the new country and the ideas in the declaration.
So for Obama using this as a tactic to deflect criticisms that he was all talk with no actual plans by quoting rhetoric that was backed up by plans and action doesn't really do much. Though I guess the irony is that he was using empty rhetoric to defend himself against the charge of empty rhetoric. Another thing I don't get about the Obama fascination is all the praises for his speeches when what he is doing is giving a good reading of a prepared speech. When he had to give a talk without a teleprompter and he didn't want to be reading from a prepared speech it gave a much better idea of Obama the speaker with him bashing President Bush, Karl Rove and former FEMA head Michael Brown and using much more of the language of political liberalism today.
I do think it is pretty cool how far Christopher Blosser's Is Obama the Messiah? blog has taken off and how much traffic he is getting.
One thing though - with Jesus we got The Beatitudes, with Obama we get The Platitudes. Besides doesn't the Bible have strong words about the Obamanation?
Known as 
"Besides doesn't the Bible have strong words about the Obamanation?"
If the penalty for wasting away the "seed" was death (Onanism), what will be the penalty for wasting empty words(Obanism)?
The whole Obama mystique is not too surprising, I have to admit. He's speaking in safe but inspiring terms to people who have taken the time they would normally be watching American Idol to attend his events. By saying nothing in a compelling way, he's attempting to build as large an audience as possible without offending any of them with unnecessary details. Politicians and con-men have been using this strategy forever to win over the gullible and politically naive.
What's really funny is trying to get an Obama supporter to tell you where their man actually stands on any given issue.
What's his position on the economy? -- Hope
What's his position on taxes? -- Change.
What's his position on healthcare? -- Hope.
What's his position on Iraq? -- Change.
Repeat for every other issue you can think of.
Fortunately for Obama, if he's not elected, he could still hope as much as he's promising to....
This guy's speaches are so nonsensical I've been fantasizing about working for the Hillary campaign just so I could tell her what to say about them.
Newsweek's Samuelson takes him apart here.
Jeff,
I'm still waiting for your post on him entitled "Un-just words".
God Bless,
Florentius: "He's speaking in safe but inspiring terms .... By saying nothing in a compelling way...
Sounds like the last sermon at a UCC Church I attended...which is what Obama is a member of by the way (and I was, until I crossed the Tiber)
In marketing the call it, all sizzle and no steak.
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Anyway, I just finished reading the Boston Herald, and one of their pundits, Howie Carr had a piece on this. You see, there is a great deal of similarity between Deval and Barack.
It was concluded by Carr that one of the reasons Hillary won Massachusetts is BECAUSE OF Deval's and Baracks similarities. Massachusetts Democrats already went down this road in 2006, and they weren't going to buy a pig in a poke again.
If you want to see how Obama would do as Prez, look at the record of Deval...a feel good candidate, but a feckless leader.
Definitley a one-term candidate
Yesterday I was at a conference for educators and the presenter wanted to cut through the fuzzy educator-ese that some administrators tend to use. She said, "Having hope is NOT the same thing as having a plan."
Oh, how right she was!
I still say it's plagiarism if you're trying to pass off someone else's ideas (particularly if you are using them verbatim) as your own without attribution. Sure, you won't be sued if you have permission, but it's still intellectually dishonest.
Of course, the majority of politicians probably don't write their own speeches, so I suppose all politicians are guilty of plagiarism.
I'm from Canada so have not followed your US campaign much but I turned on the TV last night. I was astonished how people can fall for this kind of rhetoric; he sounded like a Southern Revivalist preacher!! And then I saw a clip of his wife giving her "I would like to be proud of my country" speech, shaking her hair and head in emphasis, I thought, wow, your culture is certainly different. But how can anyone be so popular who refuses to salute his own flag and whose wife says she is not proud of her country?
Rose, MY culture is not a lot different from yours. (Except for that gravy on the fries thing... ha ha!) Please think of Mr. Obama as being like some of those fellows who are inexplicably powerful and well-respected in Ottawa even though they seem like dim-witted jerks to you. My parents never swallowed the Camelot myth, either (and my mother thought Robert was the only handsome charismatic Kennedy -John was a terrible speaker and Ted was a buffoon). Some of my co-workers who are in their 20s and early 30s seem to be enamored of the idea of having a black president, regardless of his beliefs or voting record (or lack thereof). Ironically they think it will "prove" that America isn't racist. Similarly, there are a few diehard feminists of my aquaintance who will vote for Mrs. Clinton because of her gender, if nothing else.
My candidate isn't even in the running anymore. :(
This isn't plagiarism; Obama's main speech writer also worked on Deval Patrick's campaign. Notice any similarities of "hope" and "change" to John Edwards' 2004 VP campaign? Again, same speechwriter.
Rose....follow-up on the Obama flag salute issue. Much ado about.....nothing.
Jeff Miller,
Hey, I am mistaken, or did you get the Obamanation quip from my combox comment over at AmP?
If so, that's okay: any Anti-Obama Catholic is my friend. ;)