This is telling:
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.
...
It would appear that the only president of note whose imprint was absent in Obama's long awaited and much-anticipated speech was Obama. This was supposed to have been the moment when the nation found out whether he was at the core a Rooseveltian liberal of a Clintonian centrist. What it got was a cut and pasted version of great and not-so-great State of the Union and other addresses of the past.
He truly is in over his head... and this seems to underscore the point though the surprise is that he actually stole from previous Presidents and not dictators and thugs from communist or marxist states.
Do read the whole thing and consider passing it on to a progressive near you if only to be entertained by the blanching that will ensue as evidence nullifying how smart this guy is supposed to be continues to be produced.
Comments (17)
Hey, give Barry a break! A... (Below threshold)1. Posted by GarandFan | January 27, 2011 12:40 PM | Score: 10 (10 votes cast)
Hey, give Barry a break! At least he's consistent. He's never had an original idea of his own. He's 'above the fray'. He's 'The Smartest Man in the World!'
1. Posted by GarandFan | January 27, 2011 12:40 PM |
Score: 10 (10 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2011 12:40
2. Posted by Hank | January 27, 2011 1:01 PM | Score: 9 (9 votes cast)
I'm reminded of something I read.
Richard Epstein was a colleague of Barack Obama at the University of Chicago.
In a december 25ht article in the Boston Globe (democrat), Esptein said:
"I like Obama but I reject the suggestion that he is an intellectual. He is an activist merely mimicking the mannerisms of an intellectual."
And today, he's an activist merely mimicking the mannerisms of a President.
2. Posted by Hank | January 27, 2011 1:01 PM |
Score: 9 (9 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2011 13:01
3. Posted by Roy | January 27, 2011 1:55 PM | Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Even a mediocre actor can recite lines from someone else and engage the audience. Maybe President Sputnik needs acting lessons.
3. Posted by Roy | January 27, 2011 1:55 PM |
Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2011 13:55
4. Posted by irongrampa | January 27, 2011 2:06 PM | Score: 4 (6 votes cast)
Really becoming evident that the Presidency is "above his pay grade".
4. Posted by irongrampa | January 27, 2011 2:06 PM |
Score: 4 (6 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2011 14:06
5. Posted by Bob | January 27, 2011 2:34 PM | Score: 6 (8 votes cast)
His SOTU theme Winning the Future was taken from the title of a Newt Gingrich book. Do you think the Dems would have given him a standing ovation for mentioning that fact?
The best part of that theme was what Sarah Palin picked up on, the acronym WTF, which really fits Barry and his administration to a tee.
5. Posted by Bob | January 27, 2011 2:34 PM |
Score: 6 (8 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2011 14:34
6. Posted by davidt | January 27, 2011 3:07 PM | Score: 2 (6 votes cast)
Obama isn't a cut-and-paste plagiarist, he's a glorified egotistical spokesmodel reading a script written by cut-and-paste plagiarists.
6. Posted by davidt | January 27, 2011 3:07 PM |
Score: 2 (6 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2011 15:07
7. Posted by Don L | January 27, 2011 3:25 PM | Score: -1 (3 votes cast)
I think Biden wrote (er,...cut and pasted) the whole thing.
Any man like Obama,who takes credit for the ability to stop the seas from rising ought to be able to become a conservative whenever it's necessary. I wish Sarah had labelled his speech what it was - a perfect Saul Alinsky moment - any means to an end!
7. Posted by Don L | January 27, 2011 3:25 PM |
Score: -1 (3 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2011 15:25
8. Posted by Moochell My Belle | January 27, 2011 3:25 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
I hope He is ready to cut and paste from somewhere at 3am if necessary?
8. Posted by Moochell My Belle | January 27, 2011 3:25 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2011 15:25
9. Posted by mojo | January 27, 2011 5:19 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Is purloining piffle a crime now?
9. Posted by mojo | January 27, 2011 5:19 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2011 17:19
10. Posted by Marco Polo | January 27, 2011 10:45 PM | Score: -2 (8 votes cast)
I love a cut-and-paste headline followed by a cut-and-paste blog post. Any ideas of your own?
Google "fallacy of imitative form" to learn more about your fallacy of imitative form.
10. Posted by Marco Polo | January 27, 2011 10:45 PM |
Score: -2 (8 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2011 22:45
11. Posted by 914 | January 27, 2011 11:18 PM | Score: 2 (6 votes cast)
"I love a cut-and-paste headline followed by a cut-and-paste blog post. Any ideas of your own?"
I hate idiots like marco that post, then simultaneously vote + for their post.
11. Posted by 914 | January 27, 2011 11:18 PM |
Score: 2 (6 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2011 23:18
12. Posted by Steve Crickmore | January 28, 2011 12:27 AM | Score: -4 (6 votes cast)
Speaking about thugs and dictators..there were absolutely no posts on the Tunisian reovlution, aided by Wikleaks revelations , on this blog, only a few comments from me that that revolution, with the domino effect could well prove to be more important than the Iranian one. Now Egypt is teetering, and could fall, and conservatives and their posters offer no comment or opinion, just silence. The conservatives do live in a alternate universe and see this universe through a rearview mirror.
12. Posted by Steve Crickmore | January 28, 2011 12:27 AM |
Score: -4 (6 votes cast)
Posted on January 28, 2011 00:27
13. Posted by 914 | January 28, 2011 12:57 AM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Layoff the sauce Steve.
13. Posted by 914 | January 28, 2011 12:57 AM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on January 28, 2011 00:57
14. Posted by Steve Crickmore | January 28, 2011 1:06 AM | Score: -2 (6 votes cast)
Cut-and-paster-in-chief
We could get instead, a cut and pastry chef. What we need according to Sarah, is not a sputnik moment but" "a spudnud moment," a (do-nut) shop like that, to get America moving" What kind of movement?
Moreover, Sarah says, sputniks or "the race to space, incurred so much debt, it brought down the Soviet Union".. thirty years later. Does it get any more insane than that? Go Sarah go, the next GOP nominee!
14. Posted by Steve Crickmore | January 28, 2011 1:06 AM |
Score: -2 (6 votes cast)
Posted on January 28, 2011 01:06
15. Posted by Steve Crickmore | January 28, 2011 1:10 AM | Score: -3 (5 votes cast)
I'm not Obama; this laptop is difficult to cut and paste-mind the pun, here is the link again, the spudnut moment.
15. Posted by Steve Crickmore | January 28, 2011 1:10 AM |
Score: -3 (5 votes cast)
Posted on January 28, 2011 01:10
16. Posted by 914 | January 28, 2011 1:15 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
We could say Barry has cut and pasted Carters Presidency 10x over.
16. Posted by 914 | January 28, 2011 1:15 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on January 28, 2011 01:15
17. Posted by John | January 28, 2011 12:02 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Steve, let me do a little cut and paste, seems a guy with a lot more knowledge than you agrees with Palin
SPUTNIK MOMENT: Soviet space expert James Oberg comments: “I’m seeing up close how ‘Palin Derangement Syndrome’ can compel otherwise intelligent people to foam at the mouth and babble nonsense to prove they’re right and she’s wrong. . . . It’s more complicated, but the essence is, Palin was right: the Soviets sowed the seed of their own collapse by setting off the Space Race.”
For a intelligent nuanced liberal you sure did take a short view of this issue.
17. Posted by John | January 28, 2011 12:02 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 28, 2011 12:02