Wolking’s World

I don’t think so. 

First, even with the two clips provided at Big Head DC, we only have Obama mostly repeating Deval for 25 seconds.

Second, Governor Deval endorsed Obama on October 23, 2007. Their styles of campaigning have been compared before. It is not unlikely that Deval gave Obama permission to use a portion of his speech, or even that Obama, in associating with other liberal, prominent black politicians, had heard of Deval’s effective campaigning back in 2006 and asked to use some variations of it now that Deval has endorsed him in the presidential race. Oh wait … Obama was on stage with Deval that night in 2006.

Not five months later, Obama, his presidential campaign gaining steam, had this to say about legendary Chicago organizer Saul Alinsky in The New Republic: “Sometimes the tendency in community organizing of the sort done by Alinsky was to downplay the power of words and of ideas when in fact ideas and words are pretty powerful. ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, all men are created equal.’ Those are just words. ‘I have a dream.’ Just words.”

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.

It’s the latest chapter in a symbiotic friendship between Obama and Patrick that continues to shape their political careers, according to admirers, observers, and associates of the two men.

The similarities between Patrick and Obama, who have known each other for more than a decade, are obvious: Both are idealistic African-American leaders who came of age after the Civil Rights movement. Both have Chicago roots, a Harvard Law degree, and a gift for appealing to both blacks and whites.

Their political likeness runs deeper. Both believe that people long for a new dawn of postpartisan, hopeful, and optimistic public leadership. Both staked their fates on grass-roots activism and fund-raising. Both campaign on supplanting cynicism with citizenship.

Obviously I don’t see this as a major scandal, which is how Big Head DC is trying to tout it. Did Obama get the idea from Deval? Sure. Will it ruin his campaign? No. Will the Clintons use it against him in the form of attacks from surrogates? You better believe it. They are, after all, drilling into every single crowd recently that this is about someone who can give good speeches and someone who can get results. It is certainly interesting to watch, as this is exactly the kind of battle McCain will have to wage in just a month or so.