Matt makes note of the strange bedfellows in Hillary Clinton's recent admonishments of Barack Obama's "potential plagiarism." In addition to working for AEI, it should also be noted that Hassett serves as the economic adviser to John McCain.
It doesn't seem like the Clinton campaign stands to gain anything by letting McCain's advisers speak for them. But Hassett, on the other hand, stands to gain plenty by aligning with Clinton. It's pretty widely known that the McCain camp thinks they stand a better chance in the general election running against Clinton. Perhaps I'm too cynical, but might their alliance with Clinton be merely a ploy to help her secure the nomination in hopes of greasing their path to the presidency?
On a separate note, presidential candidates borrowing from one another's plans isn't all that uncommon. Clinton herself borrowed heavily from the climate plans of Obama and Edwards. Though she's now claiming that she was the first to tie her climate plan to economic stimulus in the form of new "green collar jobs," that was a central component of both Obama and Edwards' plans -- which both came out well before Clinton's Nov. 5 speech on the subject that her camp is touting as the "original" discussion of the matter.
Besides that, doesn't the old saying go something like "imitation is the highest form of flattery"?
--Kate Sheppard
