Marco Rubio may have come in third in the Iowa caucus behind both Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, but for reasons that remain unclear his team – and the media – are treating it like he just locked up the presidency. (Don’t break out the champagne just yet, Rubio fans, third place finishers almost never end up winning the nomination.)

But clearly thrilled with the narrative that he had pulled off a political upset…by coming in third… Rubio delivered a tone-deaf “victory” speech about how no one thought he could do it… come in third, that is.

“So this is the moment they said would never happen. For months, for months they told us we had no chance. For months they told us because we offer too much optimism in a time of anger, we had no chance. For months they told us because we didn’t have the right endorsements or the right political connections, we had no chance. They told me that we have no chance because my hair wasn’t gray enough and my boots were too high.”

To political insiders watching the speech, there was growing bafflement. Anyone with any familiarity with one of Obama’s most iconic speeches – when he won the Iowa caucus in 2008, a very real upset – noticed immediately that Rubio was pretty much plagiarizing the sitting-president almost verbatim.

Here’s Obama’s:

“They said this day would never come. They said our sights were set too high. They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose. But on this January night, at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn’t do.”


Like any copy-cat, Rubio’s version paled in comparison to the original. Obama’s speech was forceful, aspirational, and concise. It set the tone for Obama’s entire campaign. Here was an underdog who no one believed could do it, handily beating the favored choices. As a result, Obama’s comments felt earned. Rubio is using a more “fake it til you make it” approach.

Hilariously, Obama’s former speechwriter was one of the people scratching their heads at Rubio’s carbon copy. He scorched Rubio’s campaign in a tweet.

He could've at least thanked Obama for the opening line https://t.co/meP627U6pv

— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) February 2, 2016

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2016/02/02/rubio-copied-one-of-obamas-most-famous-speeches-and-obamas-speechwriter-just-called-him-on-it/