Change You Can Xerox

During a Democratic Debate on February 21, 2008, Hillary Clinton accused Barack Obama of plagiarizing portions of his speeches. Clinton used her accusation to justify referring to Obama's political message as, "change you can Xerox."

Fast Facts

1. When: February 21, 2008 8:00 to 9:30 PM EST
2. Where: The University of Texas at Austin
3. Sponsors: Democratic Party, CNN, and Univision
4. Participants: Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama
5. Moderator: Campbell Brown
6. Network Coverage: Aired live on CNN and CNN International, aired in Spanish on Univision beginning at 11:30 PM EST
7. Streamed and archived on CNN.com
8. The debate was not open to the public

Obama's Response

Hillary Clinton received boos from the crowd at the debate, as the audience did not receive her comments well. Barack Obama then seized the opportunity to win the crowd by saying, "What we shouldn't be doing is tearing each other down, we should be lifting the country up."¹

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