diff -r 7ba77d77b499 Lib/test/test_textwrap.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_textwrap.py	Mon Aug 12 17:39:51 2013 -0400
+++ b/Lib/test/test_textwrap.py	Tue Aug 13 19:04:08 2013 +0800
@@ -833,6 +833,20 @@
     def test_first_word_too_long_but_placeholder_fits(self):
         self.check_shorten("Helloo", 5, "(...)")
 
+    def test_all_whitespaces_in_placeholder(self):
+        text = "Hello there, how are you this fine day? I'm glad to hear it!"
+        self.check_shorten(text, 4, "", placeholder="     ")
+        self.check_shorten(text, 5, "Hello", placeholder="     ")
+        self.check_shorten(text, 13, "Hello there,", placeholder="     ")
+
+    def test_text_with_leading_whitespaces(self):
+        text = "    Hello world!"
+        self.check_shorten(text, 11, "Hello (...)")
+
+    def test_placeholder_with_leading_whitespaces(self):
+        text = "Hello world!"
+        self.check_shorten(text, 9, "Hello  $", placeholder="  $")
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()
diff -r 7ba77d77b499 Lib/textwrap.py
--- a/Lib/textwrap.py	Mon Aug 12 17:39:51 2013 -0400
+++ b/Lib/textwrap.py	Tue Aug 13 19:04:08 2013 +0800
@@ -313,6 +313,8 @@
 
         Collapse and truncate the given text to fit in 'self.width' columns.
         """
+        placeholder = placeholder.rstrip()
+        text = text.strip()
         max_length = self.width
         if max_length < len(placeholder.strip()):
             raise ValueError("placeholder too large for max width")