Obama's State of the Union Was Tantamount to Plagiarism

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Obama missed a huge opportunity to show he is the entitlement President and to play off of JFK's famous "Ask not" quote. With our current President we should have heard "Ask not what you can give your country, ask What is my country going to give me."

DaveO of VA 11:17AM January 27, 2012

Obama has failed in his responsibilities to act on America's behalf. He is acting on his own progressive agenda, seeking to be a socialist Hero. He is attempting to do more damage than Stalin in a shorter time.

Jeff of CA 8:24AM July 17, 2011

As a student of Felzenberg I am perhaps bias, HOWEVER the message he's trying to depict is not that the President should receive an X for plagiarism. Rather the message is HE HID BEHIND PRESIDENTS PAST, we did not hear Obama speaking from his own mind. We did not see Obama give a historic speech, setting the stage for what he wants to achieve in the coming years. In all honesty, the speech sounded Jon Favreau forgot to write a SOTU Address and when he was at the Kennedy Center listening to the re-reading of the Kennedy 61 address started taking notes. In the word's of Felzenberg, I am an equal opportunity basher. What I saw in the SOTU was one of the most under whelming SOTU's I have ever studied.

Equal Opportunity Basher of DC 3:52PM February 11, 2011

Not quite my friend JC of CA. we have new hurtles in our every day economic depressed future, it seems as if Obama could at least come up with modern authentic ideas to over come these vast walls that are closing in to crush the American small entrepreneurial businesses. This president has shown laziness, bad work ethic and has proved beyond a doubt that he is in over his head. This isn't just a few community homeless people striving to find there next meal or place to rest their head, this is our nation that is suffering from the lack of leadership.
Grant it that a lot of people chose to fill this desperately needed position would all be over their heads too. None the less until we find those leaders that could and would take on this profound task we only delay our demise, until then I'm sorry to say we have a poor substitute for a glorified Project Manager.

Larry of FL 11:50AM February 05, 2011

It’s not about plagiarism. I think the article is misdirected in that respect, but the article is accurate when it comes to pointing out the theme of the speech. President Obama clearly pulled material from old speeches and lifted ideas of others. The State of the Union address is the most important speech the President makes each year. It can and should be a lot of things, but beyond all else it should be authentically his. This speech was not. That’s the point of the article.
President Obama simply did not capture the moment and make it his own. He underwhelmed his audience, because he lacks authenticity. He lacks leadership. One cannot inspire people without authenticity and leadership, which is the saddest commentary about our President. He will always inspire the 20% on the hard left, never inspire the 20% on the hard right, and continually disappoint the 60% in the middle, most of whom compassionately push the re-set button for him too often. Obama simply does not have it in him to be a leader and that’s probably the point of the article.
It’s a continuing theme of a President who reaffirms he’s an amateur, but is this really a surprise? President Obama was largely a community organizer for 20 years, a State Senator for 7 years and then a U.S. Senator for less than 6 months prior to becoming President. Is this really a firm proving ground for becoming President of United States? Of course not, and he re-affirms this every speech, every press conference, every sound bite, every meeting, every look at the teleprompter and by every move he makes where he doesn’t show some semblance of leadership and authenticity.

Tim of VA 12:39PM February 01, 2011

The sheer idiocy present in this thread is beyond comprehension.
The fact that Obama drew upon the ideas of others without giving credit to the people who originally invented the concepts is plagiarism might hold water if you were writing an academic paper, but a speech? Really? The next time that we say that free markets are superior to command systems, do we need to call upon Adam Smith and Milton Friedman lest we be accused of pilfering ideas from other people? If one is to talk about deregulation and reduction of government, do we need to watch our feet lest Thatcher's estate sue us?
You people asking for new political ideas and new solutions and chastising Obama for using old ideas instead of new ones are really beyond the pale. Get this: for all practical purposes, there are NO new political ideas under the sun. There are millions upon millions of political ideas kicking around the world's collective and if you come up with even outlandish, ridiculous ideas, chances are somebody somewhere came up with it before. When you consider that Obama has to go for ideas that are at least somewhat politically palatable, that cuts down the selection space by a lot.
Go on, YOU think of a novel idea that hasn't been thought of by a politician or a political scientist or a professor somewhere. I'm waiting on you. Go on. Want to praise the national park system? Teddy Roosevelt is waiting with his lawyers. Condemning racism? I'm sure Frederick Douglass would be rolling in his grave if he could hear people taking up his cause. Praising small government? My, how DARE you call upon the ideas and words of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. Going to talk about the importance of national reconciliation? Looks like Lincoln has a bone to pick with you. And yes, if you talk about similar things in a speech, you may, in fact, use similar words and similar rhetoric. It''s absolutely amazing, I know.
There are reasons to criticize Obama. The fact that he uses the ideas of others instead of magically coming up with new and novel miracle solutions to America's ills is not one of them.

JC of CA 1:48PM January 30, 2011

Do you have be a Kool-Aid drinking Obama acolyte to comment here?

Mike of AL 7:40PM January 29, 2011

This is the most pathetic ad hominem attack I read in a long time, and not even original. The P word has been pulled out of the closet numerous times to blast those whose ideas you don't like. Ideas, man, ideas. Stick to the ideas, not to some stupid charge that someone had the good sense to recognize good ideas when he heard them. It doesn't matter how many times someone else may or may not have said the same words; it matters only whether the ideas are any good. But not a word about the quality of the proposals in this inane post. In fact, the writer is not even very accurate in his charges. Wilson was not the first to use the "light" metaphor in referring to the United States. Get a life, Alvin.

Johnnrail of GA 4:58PM January 29, 2011

Apparently anyone who uses the phrase 'military industrial complex' is guilty of plagiarism in Alvin Felzenberg's eyes. I'd say he's 'pathetic', but I'm sure somebody has used the phrase 'he's pathetic' before too, and I wouldn't want to be accused of such heretical behavior.
Incidentally, I just did a Google search on 'light of the world', Mr. Felzenberg's first noted and well researched accusation. 1,560,000 hits. Including ancient uses to variously describe the Bible, the New Testament, or Jesus. Maybe Mr. Felzenberg should, you know, find another line of work.

Rick Starr of TN 8:50AM January 29, 2011

Show us one quote that has been stolen. One. "Academica", what is that? A new word for America's state of education? Nice, but I prefer Ameridemia.
Anyhow, this ridiculous plagiarism accusation has completely fizzled out in part due to this article. Felzenberg's fantasy based rantings have managed only to ridicule himself. But, I was hoping an English teacher would have been able to see that for themselves by reading the article a little more objectively.

David of DC 12:04AM January 29, 2011