On Saturday night, as he saw what momentum he had left fade in the wake of Senator Bernie Sanders’ big win in the Nevada caucuses, Pete Buttigieg again tried to channel former President Barack Obama in an attempt to stay relevant in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. But this time, Buttigieg’s effort to channel Obama went so far as to crib the structure of his appeal from a speech Obama gave the night before his 2008 election.
Here’s Buttigieg’s version as he wrote on Twitter: “If we can light up a high school gym—we can light a neighborhood. If we can light up a neighborhood—we can light a city. If we can light up a city—we can light up our country. If we can light up our country—we can make this nation we love shine once more as a beacon to the world.”
If we can light up a high school gym—we can light a neighborhood.
If we can light up a neighborhood—we can light a city.
If we can light up a city—we can light up our country.
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) February 23, 2020
If we can light up our country—we can make this nation we love shine once more as a beacon to the world. pic.twitter.com/KAVTrD2Y2Q
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) February 23, 2020
Now take a look at this: in 2008, in Manassas, Virginia, the night before he was elected president of the United States, Barack Obama intoned, “One voice can change a room, and if a voice can change a room, then it can change a city, and if it can change a city, it can change a state, and if it can change a state, it can change a nation, and if it can change a nation, it can change the world, Virginia, your voice can change the world tomorrow.”
Buttigieg has been working hard to pattern himself after Obama for some time, as the leftist Huffington Post acknowledged in November:
If the pitch sounds familiar, that’s because like virtually every element of the latest iteration of Buttigieg’s campaign, it’s designed to emulate the rhetoric, tactics and spirit of former President Barack Obama. During Obama’s first run, he paired a progressive policy platform with soaring descriptions of the United States’ common fabric and appeals to overcome the partisan divisions that separated “red states” and “blue states.” He preached an optimistic faith in the power of the country to renew itself that was just vague enough for moderates and progressives alike to see their values in his platform.
Last October, Buttigieg’s campaign drew an overt comparison between him and Obama, as The Hill reported:
Buttigieg’s senior messaging adviser, Larry Grisolano, who held the same position in Obama’s 2007 campaign, drew the comparison in a fundraising email to supporters ahead of Friday’s Liberty and Justice Celebration in Des Moines.
“Voters yearned for change, for someone genuine and sincere,” Grisolano wrote. “They were well aware of the country’s mounting challenges, and they were prepared to take a chance on a new approach and new leadership because the same old ways just were not working.”
BET reported members of the black community didn’t take kindly to the comparison in a piece titled “People Are Going Off Over Pete Buttigieg Campaign Comparisons To Barack Obama’s.” One comment read, “#BUTTIGIEG would have to make a #instagram video of him and #Obama shooting hoops in order to get #blackvoters interested.” Another stated, “Buttigieg isn’t even comparable to Obama’s shadow.”