Hillary Clinton has been tossing around the word "plagiarism" this week because Obama used a concept and two-word line without crediting its original source, Obama supporter and friend, Governor Deval Patrick (MA.)
According to published reports, Obama was speaking to workers about his plan to retain US jobs at a titanium plant in Ohio, and said Governor Patrick had suggested he use the words.
Barack explained, “Deval and I trade ideas all the time. He has occasionally used lines of mine and at the dinner in Wisconsin I used some words of his. On occasion, Senator Clinton has used words of mine as well."
It was a powerful speech; Obama recited three iconic phrases: "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?"
The passage was similar , although not quite the same, to a short passage in a speech Patrick had given a few years earlier. But Patrick is not calling it plagiarism, and doesn't seem to care one bit that he was not attributed.
Like most writers, I'm pretty sensitive to plagiarism. It burns me up when I see work of mine that has been lifted, and I am meticulous in my research to assure that my work is my own. But my best friend Lisa Earle McLeod, another author, borrows my lines occasionally, and I occasionally borrow hers.
And we're both fine with that. After joking about it for several years, we have finally given our little habit a name -- "writing partners".
I write fiction, and non-fiction books and columns about relationships. She writes articles and books about spirituality, peace, and frequently, politics. I'm not stealing her work, and she's not stealing mine, but her ideas have made their way into my work, and lots of my best lines have made their way into hers. It's not plagiarism, it's friendship. Her ideas are still hers, my ideas are still mine, but occasionally we help tighten up each others work.
Do I want to get credit for my work? Yes. But sometimes, I'm willing to give up claim to my words for a greater cause.
Like when Lisa and I wrote a column together under her byline about how she helped to get Katrina survivor Mabel Brown out of Houston with her family. Lisa was busy mobilizing her neighbors to save Mabel's family, Lisa gave me the facts, and I got the column started while she was passing out supplies and making trips to the bus station.
When it was finished, we both felt like we had done something meaningful, relevant, world-changing. I didn't particularly care that my name wasn't on the piece, even when it was picked up nationally. I had been a part of something greater. Helping to bring Mable's heartbreaking and inspiring story to the world felt far more important to me than having my name on that byline.
Sometimes it's not possible or practical to share a byline. I thank Lisa in the acknowledgments of my books, she thanks me in the acknowledgments of hers. Occasionally, we'll actually officially write things together. But what we do isn't about the credit -- it's about two friends who believe in each others work, who want each others' voices to touch people and inspire them, who don't mind lending a line or an idea if it will help make a piece funnier, deeper, or more powerful.
Barack Obama and Deval Patrick have been friends for years, and I'm guessing Deval isn't even a little bit irritated that he wasn't credited in one of the many powerful, world-changing speeches that will bring Obama to the white house.
Patrick is going to be proud, unbelievably proud, that he helped get him there.
Sometimes getting credit isn't nearly as important as getting something done.
Lisa
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