Obama plagerized?

The facts regarding this contoversial plagerisam accusation are as follows: Senator Obama did, in fact, paraphrase the words and ideas of his friend Governer Deval Patrick (whether we can call that plagerism in this situation is questionable). The Senator had even used this line in a prior speech and accredited it to Governer Patrick. Obama and Patrick also use the same campaign wizard, David Axelrod, to help them draft their speeches, so it comes as no suprise that their may be similarities in the content.
The ethical principles involved in the case seem to me to be very hazy. Is it ethical to hire someone to write a speech for you and allow the general public to believe that these are your words. I believe it is. It may be dishonest on some level, but I do not believe it is unethical. I feel that it is more unethical to use this sort of desperation to slander another candidiate. I find it interestingly ironic that the supposed plagerized paragraph included the phrase "just words." To me, that says it all. They are in fact just words!!! It should be the message behind the words that we, as voters, try to analyse...not the words themselves.
I feel that the issues in this case speak for themselves. Senator Obama is not the first, nor will he be the last to borrow a good quote ('just words') from another individual. As a candidate I feel that he was well within the realm of what is appropriate and I feel that his oppostion is being quite petty to exaggerate the issue as she did. As a speechwriter, I feel that it would be my job to create an effective and powerful speech. There is a certain sense of commonality between state and national government and what we as voters want to hear from those who represent us. As a reporter I would like to believe I would be more interested in the candidates views on the issues, and getting that information out to the masses, not quibble over the repetition of words.