OBAMA - COPYCAT CANDIDATE

Rookie Obama Swipes Key Themes, Lines And Even A Joke From Former Clients Of His Chief Strategist
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Last Week, Obama Swiped A Line From Gov. Deval Patrick (D-MA), A Former Client Of His Strategist David Axelrod:

Obama On Saturday: "'I have a dream.' Just words. 'We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal.' Just words. 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself.' Just words." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At The Wisconsin Democratic Party Founders Day Dinner, Milwaukee, WI, 2/16/08)

Patrick In 2006: "

'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'
Just words. Just words. 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself.' Just words.
'Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your
country.' Just words. 'I have a dream.' Just words."

(Gov. Deval Patrick, Remarks At The Boston Common, Boston, MA, 10/15/06)

Obama Later Admitted He Should Have Given Patrick Credit For Taking The Line. Obama: "I was on the stump, and, you know, he had suggested that we use these lines. ... I thought they were good lines. I'm sure I should have [given him credit], didn't this time." (John McCormick, "Obama Says He Should Have Credited Patrick," Chicago Tribune's "The Swamp" Blog, weblogs.chicagotribune.com, 2/18/08)

Chicago Political Strategist David Axelrod, A Top Adviser For Obama's Presidential Campaign, Guided Both Obama's Senate Campaign And Patrick's Gubernatorial Bid. "The man who has honed that message for both candidates is veteran Chicago political strategist David Axelrod, who guided Obama's Senate campaign and Patrick's gubernatorial bid and is now a top strategist on Obama's presidential effort." (Scott Helman, "Patrick, Obama Campaigns Share Language Of 'Hope,'" The Boston Globe, 4/16/07)
Will Obama Give Gov. Patrick Credit For Other Key Lines He Has Used Repeatedly On The Stump?

Patrick In 2006: "I Am Not Asking Anybody To Take A Chance On Me. I Am Asking You To Take A Chance On Your Own Aspirations." (Gov. Deval Patrick, Remarks At The Massachusetts Democratic Party Convention, Boston, MA, 6/3/06)

Obama In 2007: "I Am Not Asking Anyone To Take A Chance On Me. I Am Asking You To Take A Chance On Your Own Aspirations." "But you see, I am not asking anyone to take a chance on me. I am asking you to take a chance on your own aspirations." (DeWayne Wickham, Op-Ed, "Obama Tries To Allay Race, Safety Concerns Of Blacks," USA Today, 11/6/07)

Patrick In 2006: "We Can Disagree With Each Other Without Being Disagreeable." "By showing that we can disagree with each other without being disagreeable." (Gov. Deval Patrick, Remarks On Election Night At Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA, 11/6/06)

Obama In 2008: "We Can Disagree With Each Other Without Being Disagreeable." (Anna Webb and Brian Murphy, "Obama Wows, Inspires Crowd At Packed Arena: 'And They Told Me There Were No Democrats In Idaho,'" The Idaho Statesman, 2/3/08)

Chairman Of The Massachusetts Democrat Party On Obama's 2007 DNC Winter Meeting Speech: "We Could Have Closed Our Eyes When Obama Spoke [And] It Could Have Been Deval." "When a delegation of Massachusetts Democrats heard Obama speak at the Democratic National Committee's winter meeting in Washington in February, they could trace the thread, said state Democratic Party chairman Philip W. Johnston. 'We all said that we could have closed our eyes when Obama spoke [and] it could have been Deval,' Johnston said. 'To us it was a similar kind of message.'" (Scott Helman, "Patrick, Obama Campaigns Share Language Of 'Hope,'" The Boston Globe, 4/16/07)

Obama Also Copies Former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) Of 2004, Another Axelrod Client, Taking Key Themes, Lines And Even A Joke:

In His 2004 Presidential Campaign, Axelrod Was Edwards' "Senior Strategist." (CNN's "Inside Politics," 2/11/04)

In 2003, John Edwards Stressed He Had Spent Enough Time In Washington To See The Need To Change. Edwards: "I haven't spent most of my life in politics, but I've spent enough time in Washington to know how much we need to change it." (Sasha Issenberg, "Obama Borrows From Edwards," The Boston Globe's "Political Intelligencer" Blog, http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/01/obama_borrows_f.html, 1/5/08)

Obama Does The Same Today. Obama: "I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change." (Sasha Issenberg, "Obama Borrows From Edwards," The Boston Globe's "Political Intelligencer" Blog, http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/01/obama_borrows_f.html, 1/5/08)

Edwards In 2004: "Hard work should be valued in this country, so we're going to reward work, not just wealth." (Former Sen. John Edwards, Remarks To The Democratic National Convention, Boston, MA, 7/28/04)

Obama In January: "We shouldn't just be respecting wealth in this country - we should be respecting work." (Sasha Issenberg, "Obama Borrows From Edwards," The Boston Globe's "Political Intelligencer" Blog, http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/01/obama_borrows_f.html, 1/5/08)

John Edwards In 2004: "Reject The Tired, Old, Hateful, Negative Politics Of The Past ... Embrace The Politics Of Hope." "[T]he American people, you can reject the tired, old, hateful, negative politics of the past. And instead you can embrace the politics of hope, the politics of what's possible because this is America, where everything is possible." (Former Sen. John Edwards, Remarks To The Democratic National Convention, Boston, MA, 7/28/04)

Obama Swiped This Theme Urging Voters To "Break Out Of The Politics Of The Past." "Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday it is difficult ... 'to break out of the politics of the past,' when the country was badly divided and Democrats lost control of Congress ..." (Charles Babington, "Obama Ties Clinton To Divisive 'Politics Of The Past,'" The Associated Press, 2/10/08)

Obama Has Even Swiped One Of Edwards' Key Jokes From The Stump. "Even a new Obama laugh line -- joking about pharmaceutical ads that 'have all these people running around in the fields and stuff' - evokes an anecdotal staple of Edwards's 2004 'Two Americas' stump speech used to ridicule the marketing budgets of pharmaceutical companies. 'I love the ads,' Edwards said then. 'Buy their medicine, take it and the next day you and your spouse will be skipping through the fields.' Obama wins the biggest response when he punches up the Edwards observation with a slyly racy kicker." (Sasha Issenberg, "Obama Borrows From Edwards," The Boston Globe's "Political Intelligencer" Blog, http://www.boston.com/ne%20ws/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/01/obama_borrows_f.html, 1/5/08)

Media And Others Have Noticed Similar Themes And Lines Among Axelrod Clients:

Elizabeth Edwards, Wife Of John Edwards, Pointed To Axelrod As The Reason For Obama's Rhetoric Resembling Her Husband's Rhetoric In 2004. Elizabeth Edwards: "You listen to the language of what people say, particularly Obama, who seems to be using a lot of John's 2004 language, which is maybe not surprising since one of his speechwriters was one of our speechwriters, his media guy was our media guy. These people know John's mantra as well as anybody could know it. They've moved from 'hope is on the way' to 'the audacity of hope.' I'm constantly hearing things in a familiar tone." (Ruth Conniff, "Elizabeth Edwards," The Progressive, 8/07)

The Washington Post's Dana Milbank: "[T]he Boston Globe caught Obama red-handed after the new Democratic front-runner stole words from Edwards. ... Coincidence? Consider that Edwards's 2004 adviser David Axelrod is Obama's 2008 adviser." (Dana Milbank, Op-Ed, "Whose Line Is It, Anyway?" The Washington Post, 1/7/08)

The Boston Globe's Scott Helman: Obama "Borrowing Themes, Messages, And Even Specific Lines" From Patrick. "In the midst of his improbable run for office, Obama and his advisers have evidently studied Patrick's up-from-nowhere victory in Massachusetts and are borrowing themes, messages, and even specific lines for the presidential campaign." (Scott Helman, "Patrick, Obama Campaigns Share Language Of 'Hope,'" The Boston Globe, 4/16/07)

ABC News' Jake Tapper: "Since last year, observers have been noting that rhetorical similarities between the two candidates [Obama and Patrick] with vaguely similar biographies and campaign pitches - who also share political guru David Axelrod." (Jake Tapper, "Obama Echoes Deval Patrick ... Again," ABC News' "Political Punch" Blog, blogs.abcnews.com, 2/18/08)

The Boston Globe's Sasha Issenberg: "The two candidates share a common strategist -- David Axelrod, the mastermi nd of Obama '08, helped launch Edwards '04 - and now a common goal of standing as the reformist outsider against Hillary Clinton." (Sasha Issenberg, "Obama Borrows From Edwards," The Boston Globe's "Political Intelligencer" Blog, http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/01/obama_borrows_f.html, 1/5/08)


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