Pete Buttigieg appears to mimic Barack Obama almost exactly in campaign speech video comparison

Presidential candidate’s words resembled Obama speeches from previous campaigns

Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has been accused of plagiarising Barack Obama in several campaign speeches.

In a compilation video featuring side-by-side comparisons of the two men's speeches, Mr Buttigieg is shown using almost the exact same words as Mr Obama on multiple occasions.

The embarrassing video, assembled by Brennan Murphy at video agency The Recount, comes as Mr Buttigieg faces mockery for a tweet in which he seemed to borrow from one of the speeches in question.

Describing how the audience at a campaign event used their phone screens when the room hit by a power cut, Mr Buttigieg tweeted: “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.”

Right-wing Twitter users were quick to point out the similarity with a tweet Mr Obama sent out on the eve of the 2012 election.

“One voice can change a room,” read Mr Obama’s tweet. “And if it can change a room, it can change a city. And if it can change a city, it can change a state.”

View host Meghan McCain, daughter of Mr Obama’s onetime rival John McCain, tweeted “Oh COME ON! I know Pete thinks he’s the next Obama but this is ridiculous.”

The Daily Caller’s Logan Hall added to the ridicule: “tfw you copy your friend’s homework and make a few slight changes so it won’t look too obvious.” Another conservative site, the Daily Wire, accused Mr Buttigieg of “cribbing”.

However, some on the left also took note of the tweet: Obama campaign veteran and speechwriter Jon Lovett responded with a simple “oh man”.

And the video comparison of Mr Buttigieg and Mr Obama was tweeted out by Sawyer Hackett, who served as communications director for Julian Castro – another Democratic candidate who's now dropped out.

Mr Buttigieg has also been derided for tweeting a picture of himself walking down a hallway which many users said looked staged and uncomfortable.

The former South Bend mayor is currently hoping to perform well in upcoming primaries to restart the momentum he gained from strong performances in Iowa and New Hampshire.

While he retains a strong following and has received plenty of positive media coverage, Mr Buttigieg is performing weakly in national polls, and came third in the Nevada caucuses.