2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg is being accused of trying to copy former President Barack Obama’s messaging, and the former mayor has now been accused of plagiarism more than once.
Do Buttigieg’s Tweets Sound Like Obama’s?
Fox News noted a weekend tweet from Buttigieg in which he wrote: “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 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
A number of social media commenters compared it to a 2012 tweet from former President Obama.
“One voice can change a room,” Obama wrote. “And if it can change a room, it can change a city. And if it can change a city, it can change a state.”
Obama: “One voice can change a room. And if it can change a room, it can change a city. And if it can change a city, it can change a state.”
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 6, 2012
Meghan McCain of “The View” tweeted in response, “Oh COME ON! I know Pete thinks he’s the next Obama but this is ridiculous.”
Oh COME ON! I know Pete thinks he’s the next Obama but this is ridiculous. https://t.co/xtlCMdr1HW
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) February 23, 2020
Team Buttigieg told Fox News his tweet was referred to an earlier campaign event where the lights went out and those in attendance used their cellphones as lights.
The problem for Mayor Pete is, this is not the only time he’s been accused of copying Barack Obama.
More Accusations
On Monday, Parkland survivor and conservative activist Kyle Kashuv accused Buttigieg of “blatantly plagiarizing” Obama more than once.
Kashuv tweeted, “So it turns out Pete Buttigieg is just blatantly plagiarizing Barack Obama. Cmon man at least come up [with] your own platitudes…”
So it turns out Pete Buttigieg is just blatantly plagiarizing Barack Obama. Cmon man at least come up woth your own platitudes…pic.twitter.com/o4qIxTcqQV
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) February 25, 2020
More examples of Buttigieg seemingly trying to copy Obama could emerge.
Remember When Melania Trump Was Accused of the Same Thing–And It Seemed Like the Media Made a Much Bigger Deal Out of It?
But remember when Melania Trump was accused of the same thing?
The First Lady was said to have repeated passages from Michelle Obama’s 2008 and 2012 Democratic convention speeches during Trump’s own speech at the 2016 Republican convention.
CORRECTION: Melania stole a whole graph from Michelle's speech. #GOPConvention
WATCH: https://t.co/8BCOwXAHSy pic.twitter.com/zudpDznGng— Jarrett Hill (@JarrettHill) July 19, 2016
RELATED: Obama Warns Democrats Not to Become Too Extreme–Liberals Bash Him for It
Notice there are 23K likes on this tweet from a reporter in 2016. The likes for Meghan McCain and Kyle Kashuv’s tweets are significantly lower, and McCain is a television star!
Perhaps the mainstream media was far more focused on Melania’s alleged plagiarism that Mayor Pete’s?
Mrs. Trump was accused again in 2018 of copying Mrs. Obama. Many said Melania Trump’s “Be Best” campaign against cyberbullying sounded like Obama’s “Be Better” campaign from 2016. Another accusation was that First Lady Trump borrowed from Obama for Women’s History Month. Snopes rated this claim “false.”
But do you believe we will hear as much about Pete Buttigieg’s alleged plagiarism as we did Melania Trump’s over the last three years?
Yeah, we didn’t think so either.