Fact Check: Did Vivek Ramaswamy 'steal' Barack Obama's words for Republican debate?

The recently concluded debate of presidential hopefuls from Republican Party didn't have the participation of the GoP frontrunner — former US president Donald Trump. But it did not stop the other hopefuls from trying to project themselves as best as they could to win the Republican Party nomination for the US Presidential Elections in 2024.

The hopefuls sparred with each other over issues like immigration, economy, climate change and abortion during the debate.

Usually one would expect the debate to remain limited to issues facing the US, but the Republican hopefuls made reference to many other things and even people to score brownie points against their intra-party rivals.

It is important on such a stage to make no mistakes as all your supporters and opponents closely watch you.

When it came to Vivek Ramaswamy, the 37-year-old Indian-American who is in the Republican fray, allegations of him ripping a line from former US president Barack Obama's speech were made.

Did Vivek Ramaswamy steal Barack Obama's lines? Or didn't he? Let's take a look.

The allegation

After the Republican debate, many news outlets in US media have accused Ramaswamy of lifting Obama's words. Fox News has even gone to the length of saying that Ramaswamy 'stole' one of Obama's opening lines.

Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey and one of presidential hopefuls immediately poked Ramaswamy right in the middle of the debateand said that the words were lifted from Obama's speech in the past.

"The last person who wanted these debates who stood in the middle of the stage who said 'what's a skinny guy with odd last name doing up here'was Barack Obama and I think we are dealing with same type of amateur," said Christie targetting Ramaswamy.

What did Ramaswamy say during the debate?

These were Ramaswamy's words.

"First let me just address the question that is on everybody's minds at home tonight. Who the heck is this skinny guy with funny last name and what the heck is doing in the middle of this debate stage," he said.

Which speech of Obama is being mentioned?

Ramaswamy's words are being likened to those from a speech Obama made in the year 2004, much before he was a president. Obama was speaking at Democratic National Convention. It was a keynote speech.

During his speech back then Obama had spoken about "...The hope of a skinny kid, with funny name, who believes America has a place for him too."

Did Ramaswamy steal Obama's words?

There does appear a thematic similarity in words in both speeches. Barack Obama was a near-unknown figure before his success in 2008 US presidential elections. At the time, it was almost taken for granted that Hillary Clinton would be the next US president.

Vivek Ramaswamy finds himself in a somewhat similar position right now. The Republican field is full of names who are regulars in news headlines or generally in internal political affairs of the US. Ramaswamy is a new entrant to the field of hopefuls and has a task of carving a public image of himself.

Words in both speeches are a joking reference to their relative lack of fame. A sort of self-deprecation. So thematically they do appear to serve the same purpose.

Has Ramaswamy 'stolen' or 'plagiarised' Obama's speech? A word-to-word comparison between the quotes above would suggest a 'no'. But when strategy is considered, it does seem Ramaswamy may have taken a cue from Obama's speech.

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