The Clinton and Obama campaigns recently traded charges of “plagiarism” with regard to their respective candidates’ political rhetoric.

Top advisors to Sen. Clinton said that in a recent speech in Wisconsin, Sen. Obama lifted lines from a speech given last year by his friend, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.

"Don't tell me words don't matter," Obama told the Wisconsin audience. "'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?"

Patrick used similar language during his 2006 governor's race to counter similar charges from his GOP opponent. "'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal' -- just words? Just words?" Patrick said. "'We have nothing to fear but fear itself' -- just words? 'Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.' Just words? 'I have a dream' -- just words?"

The Clinton campaign posted companion video clips on YouTube to illustrate the similarities between the two speeches.

In reply, Sen. Obama said that he hadn’t complained when Sen. Clinton said, “It’s time to turn the page”, or that she’s “fired up and ready to go”, or otherwise used language used by him.

I’d say that this is a tempest in a teapot, since the language used by all three politicians is so clichéd that it can scarcely be claimed to have originated with any of them.

The “just words” refrain, for example, has a pedigree that goes back decades –- I think it goes at least as far back as Sen. Hubert Humphrey. As I recall, when Sen. Humphrey was accused “over-promising” in his campaign speeches during the late 1960s, he replied to the effect that the Declaration of Independence was an over-promise; the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag was an over-promise; the Boy Scout Oath was an over-promise. And so on. Doubtless other politicians had used the same kind of rhetorical device before.

Gov. Patrick himself dismissed the plagiarism charge against Sen. Obama with a laugh. “It’s an elaborate charge and kind of an extravagant one,” he said. “It’s not like he’s writing a law review article or a book or something like that.”

Just so. The Hillary folks had better lighten up. Charging Sen. Joe Biden with plagiarism back in 1987 may have forced the Delaware senator to withdraw as a candidate for president, but Barack Obama will not be knocked out of the running so easily.