Melania Trump: “From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise; that you treat people with respect.”
Michelle Obama: “You work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them, and even if you don’t agree with them.”
Melania Trump: “We want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.”
Michelle Obama:“We want our children — and all children in this nation — to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.”
It is important to understand words in context. Michelle Malkin captured the real meaning behind Michelle Obama's words in an article Michelle Obama's America -and Mine.It is clear that the essence of the speeches were not even remotely similar. Melania spoke for about 17 minutes on how proud she was of our country. She highlighted the opportunities available to the citizens of the United States. Contrast that with Michelle’s comments about how she was proud of our country for the 1st time in her life because her husband was the presidential nominee. These are two starkly different messages. I wonder if Melania’s team of speech writers were trying to make a subliminal point…that the world seen through Melania’s eyes is much rosier than Michelle’s and that looking at the glass of water, Melania sees it as half full whereas Michelle always saw it half empty. Regardless of whether or not this was a Freudian slip or a deliberate attempt to highlight two different meanings, to suggest that Melania plagiarized Michelle’s thinking is a far cry from the truth. The words may be similar but coming out of Melania’s mouth they held strongly held beliefs, not just the possibility of these things happening because her husband was running for president.