Clinton advisers: Obama plagiarized

Obama shrugged off the criticism.

DE PERE, Wis. (AP) — Top advisers to Hillary Rodham Clinton accused Democratic rival Barack Obama of plagiarism Monday, the latest effort by her campaign to undermine the Illinois senator’s credibility.

Obama shrugged off the criticism and noted Clinton has used his slogans, too.

Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson, during a conference call with reporters, pointed to a speech Obama delivered at a Democratic Party dinner in Wisconsin on Saturday that lifted lines from an address by his friend, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

The Associated Press reported in January that Obama had borrowed ideas and speech points from Patrick, often without attribution. But with Obama now leading in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination — he won the last eight nomination contests — Clinton’s campaign is trying to chip away at the premise of his candidacy. Wisconsin votes today.

“Don’t tell me words don’t matter,” Obama told the Wisconsin audience, attempting to rebut Clinton’s oft-repeated charge that he is long on rhetoric and short on policy specifics. “‘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? Just speeches?”

Patrick, faced with similar charges from his GOP opponent, used nearly identical language during his 2006 governor’s race.

“‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’ — just words? Just words?” Patrick said. “‘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?”

The accusations momentarily put Obama on the defensive and distracted from a tour in Ohio, where he hoped to focus on the economy. He shrugged off the criticism and

noted that Clinton occasionally had borrowed language from him.

“I really don’t think this is too big of a deal,” Obama said at a news conference. “When Senator Clinton says ‘It’s time to turn the page’ in one of her stump speeches or says she’s ‘fired up and ready to go,’ I don’t think that anybody suggests that she’s not focused on the issues that she’s focused on.”