The Obama/Biden ticket; Change you can Xerox!
September 8, 2008
Well it seems that I was wrong in why Barack choose Joe Biden as his running mate. It wasn’t because of his lack of confidence and experience, NO, it was because he wanted to swap ideas about speech-stealing… I mean writing (I SWEAR). Miss that? Let’s go back and take another look at this…
This whole story started last February during the NAFTA/Canada scandal. For those who forgot, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were discussing NAFTA reform and how each one of them would approach the issue. While we know now that both were equally stupid in asserting that this free-trade agreement wasn’t benefiting the USA, the big story was that while Barack was saying one thing to Americans, he was telling the Canadians something entirely different (CTV covered this one in full). Many jumped on this as a sign of Barack’s double-talk, but one man actually decided to stand up and make his voice heard, Jack Layton…
Who is he? Well for our neighbours to the South who have no idea who Jack Layton is, let me give you a quick lesson on what you need to know. Jack Layton is the leader of the New Democratic Party, also known simply as the NDP, a borderline socialist party. After taking the reigns from Alexa McDonough, a woman who lead a conga-line against the War in Afghanistan (did I mention that at the time of her leadership, the NDP had just enough members of parliament to fit into a small car?), Jack took his lemmings, I MEAN party, and made a name for himself, Taliban Jack! Not only did this socialist say that NATO forces should negotiate with the Taliban (hence his nickname), but during his run as a Toronto City Council member, he voted against the construction of the Skydome (now known as the Rogers Centre) for the MLB team, the Toronto Blue Jays, that has brought millions upon millions of dollars to the city (yep, not economic smart). Did I also mention he messed up a “sweet deal” with Paul Martin and the Liberals by throwing his support behind NOW Prime Minister Stephan Harper in hopes that he and the Conservatives, a right-wing political party, would support his radically left agenda? Well stupidity is his strong suit, but right now, it is Barack’s bonehead actions which have made the headlines.
Anyways, knowing that Barack shared his view on NAFTA, Taliban Jack sent him a letter expressing his support for Obama and telling him a story about Kenora, Ontario. Seems Layton admired Obama and offered to give him some advice and a pat on the back. Sure enough, Barack decided to take a little more, like Jack’s speech. A question for Obama supporters, how does it feel knowing that his “monumental” speech was ripped, in part, from good ol’ Taliban Jack? Hurts doesn’t it? For those who want to challenge the credibility of this story, I did some digging before I started writing and found it was backed up by The Globe and Mail, one of, if not, Canada’s most trusted newspapers. With that said, this story doesn’t bode well for Obama.
Now this isn’t the first time Barack was caught stealing speeches. Hillary Clinton’s supporters nailed him on his “Just Words” speech which originally came from Massachusetts Govenor Deval Patrick. Even Fox News covered this story, but it quickly faded from the spotlight. This changed when Barack picked Joe Biden as his running mate. Conservative bloggers jumped on this, pointing to Biden’s plagiarism during his run for the 1987 Democratic nomination race, a story which the New York times covered back then. To me, it seems the Obama/Biden ticket is starting to self-destruct…
What does this mean? What, if any, is the impact of this story on Barack Obama candidacy? Well, taking into account his recent record of back-stabbing, and the fact that he depends on a teleprompter for his speeches, it goes to strengthen the idea that “The One” is just an “empty suit”. With a lack of experience and a now a lack in credibility, more and more people are having trouble seeing Obama as the “great reformer” he claims to be. No matter which way he spins it, McCain and Palin are being seen now as the ticket of “change”, instead of being “more of the same”. No matter how many commercials he puts out, this, along with his choice of Joe Biden, will continue to haunt him. With that said, I would like to say something to the man himself; Change isn’t something you can Xerox Barack, remember that…
UPDATE: I know some sources, including another at The Globe and Mail, are suggesting that Jack Layton was the one who copied Obama, but I will say that I trust the NDP leader’s story that it was Barack who copied him and not the other way around. For the years I have watched him and followed his stupidity, Jack has proved he is “bad at math” (spend, spend spend), near-sighted (Conservatives don’t support gay marriage? You don’t say) and downright loopy (TALIBAN JACK!), but he isn’t a cheat or a liar. Matter of fact, no matter how dumb it is, if he said it, Layton will stand by it. This kind of dedication isn’t something Obama is known for.
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