Did Melania "plagiarize" Michelle's 2008 speech? Typically, the "usual suspects" are ignoring key realities in the flap over Melania's speech.
Rather than focus on what Melania actually said, the "usual suspects" in our Democratic Party News Media are suggesting Melania plagiarized Michelle Obama's 2008 convention speech. Perhaps the "usual suspects" should have focused more on the meaning of what was said and not so much on the form.
Rather than focus on what Melania actually said, the "usual suspects" in our Democratic Party News Media (DPNM) are suggesting Melania plagiarized Michelle Obama's 2008 convention speech.
Did Melania really plagiarize Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech?
The short answer is no.
The "Plagiarism" Accusation
A few realities:
Melania's speech was based on her experience and rooted in her beliefs.
Neither Michelle Obama nor Melania Trump sat down, composed and wrote their speeches as given at their respective conventions. If there is any finger-pointing for using common often-cited phrases, it needs to be directed at those helping Melania craft her speech.
Her speech was crafted and edited by a team of writers working with Melania's life experience and putting it into words that expressed her beliefs. It was still a speech only Melania could deliver because it was based on her life experience and upbringing.
There were, indeed, several strings of words identical to those found in Michelle Obama's 2008 convention speech.
To claim that Melania "copied" those strings from Michelle's speech is absurd. Clearly, she did not look at Michelle's speech for material. That is an entirely unrealistic claim.
But just as clearly, the material from Michelle's 2008 speech was inserted by one of those who were helping compose and edit Melania's speech. That person needs to be identified and severed from the Trump campaign immediately. Whether a closet "Never Trumper" or a closet "Hillary" supporter is irrelevant. Someone did try to sully Melania's good name and stick a dagger in the Trump campaign, because whoever put that text in had to know that it would be exposed.
The person responsible must be publicly identified and fired. Immediately. Who better to do that than Donald J. Trump?
Referring to the transcripts of both speeches, here is a breakdown of the facts:
Michelle Obama's 2008 speech contained 2168 words in 42 paragraphs.
Melania's speech contained 66 words in 11 different word strings taken from three paragraphs containing 272 words of Michelle's speech.
66 words amounts to 3% of the 2168 words in Michelle's speech.
Three paragraphs amounts to 7% of the 42 paragraphs in Michelle's speech.
The 11 strings are snippets from the sentences within those three paragraphs.
The meaning and context are not identical in several of the identical 11 word-strings found in both speeches.
The evidence hardly justifies the "usual suspects" of the DPNM's attack on Melania:
CNBC: "Melania Trump accused of plagiarizing 2008 Michelle Obama speech for her RNC debut"
You get the idea.
Look at the headlines above. Would it be fair to say that there was plagiarism involved with the headlines for People and Variety? Only one word is different. If there is no plagiarism there, then by that standard there is certainly no plagiarism in Melania's speech.
Ignoring the Content
As is typical for the "usual suspects" of the DPNM, they completely ignored the irony of the phrases they've highlighted — phrases that speak of honor, integrity, and treating others with dignity and respect even if you don't agree with them:
"... that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them, and even if you don’t agree with them." – Michelle Obama, 2008.
In his nearly eight years as President, has Barack Obama comported himself in accordance with Michelle's speech?
No, he has not.
We're all familiar with Obama's serial and oft-repeated lies about the Affordable Care Act (aka, Obamacare), here is a reminder of just a few of his better-known whoppers:
"If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period."
"If you like your health care plan, you can keep it"
The cost of health care insurance will go down “by $2,500 per family per year.”
But what about all his other whoppers?
Barack Obama has repeatedly lied to the American people since going to Washington, DC. Here are links to a few partial lists (not all are up to date):
Obama's word means no more than Hillary Clinton's word. Because of their well-documented serial lying, both have a value of ZERO.
Obama essentially has shunned Republicans from his first day in office. He is uncompromising and has repeatedly demonstrated he has no respect for those whose views differ from his own.
In recent years, his race-baiting and demagoguing against law enforcement officers has reached dangerous proportions that have contributed to racial tensions and the deaths of more than a dozen police officers throughout our nation.
Perhaps instead of worrying about some shared words of common sense in Melania Trump and Michelle Obama's convention speeches, the "usual suspects" in the DPNM ought to make a bigger effort to remind President Obama of his wife's admonitions in 2008.
If only President Obama had been listening in 2008 and had heeded Michelle's advice.
Author of "Looking Out the Window", an evidence-based examination of the "climate change" issue, Bob Webster, is a 12th-generation descendent of both the Darte family (Connecticut, 1630s) and the Webster family (Massachusetts, 1630s). He is a descendant of Daniel Webster's father, Revolutionary War patriot Ebenezer Webster, who served with General Washington. Bob has always had a strong interest in early American history, our Constitution, U.S. politics, and law. Politically he is a constitutional republican with objectivist and libertarian roots. He has faith in the ultimate triumph of truth and reason over deception and emotion. He is a strong believer in our Constitution as written and views the abandonment of constitutional restraint by the regressive Progressive movement as a great danger to our Republic. His favorite novel is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and believes it should be required reading for all high school students so they can appreciate the cost of tolerating the growth of unconstitutional crushingly powerful central government. He strongly believes, as our Constitution enshrines, that the interests of the individual should be held superior to the interests of the state.
A lifelong interest in meteorology and climatology spurred his strong interest in science. Bob earned his degree in Mathematics at Virginia Tech, graduating in 1964.