Reggie Love compares Buttigieg to Obama ahead of Iowa vote: ‘A lot of people said very similar things’

Former Obama aide Reggie Love on Monday compared Pete Buttigieg to then-Sen. Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential bid, saying the former South Bend, Ind., mayor has drawn the same kind of criticisms and poll numbers as the 44th president did at this stage.

Love told “Your World with Neil Cavuto” on Fox News that “a lot of people said very similar things” about Obama, who wasn’t leading in the polls at this point in 2008.

Before Obama won Iowa that year, Neil Cavuto said, “not many people knew who he was.”

“A lot of people said very similar things about him: ‘He’s a nice guy, very articulate. … But maybe he’s a little too young, a little too brown, a little too maybe-not-born-here-in-this-country.'”

Love endorsed Buttigieg last month, as did two other Obama administration officials. In his interview with Cavuto, Love said Buttigieg has “a great opportunity to do something unique,” approving of “his message about unity.”

“When you look at the difference between 2016 and 2008, it’s really about getting people excited to vote,” he said, adding that candidates should focus on issues that hit close to home instead of the “fear-mongering of, ‘Let’s just get the guy currently in office out.’”

Love also spoke about Buttigieg’s relationship with the African American community, saying his newness to the political stage could be affecting his popularity among black voters.

“I’d argue in the African American community, many people haven’t gotten a chance to meet or hear from Mayor Pete, and I think as people in the African American community get to hear his message I think they’ll find it to be one that resonates with them,” he said.

Love’s comments came just days after Black Lives Matter protesters interrupted a Buttigieg campaign event by chanting, “anti-black, anti-poor.”