Critics of former Mayor Pete Buttigieg argue he plagiarized former President Barack Obama in a recent speech that sounds remarkably similar.
After losing the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, Buttigieg shared a story about how “one light” from a supporter’s iPhone after the power went off at a campaign event, sparked a movement that would light up the entire country.
He said:
It just took one person, one person who started it and then a bunch of others began to do the same. And if we can light up a high school gym like that we can light the neighborhood. If we can light up a neighborhood we can light up a city. If we can light up the city, we can light up this whole country, and if we light up this country then everyone can make sure this country we love shines as a beacon around the world once more.
Buttigieg’s speech was compared to former President Barack Obama’s speech in 2008 highlighting a story of a lone supporter that shouted “fired up ready to go” in a gym at an event as he was personally struggling to build his presidential campaign.
Obama said:
It shows you what one voice can do. One voice can change a room, and if one 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 change a state, it can change a nation, and if it can change a nation, it can change the world.
The similarities between the two speeches were cut into a video by The Recount after people on social media accused the Buttigieg campaign of plagiarism.
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