Pete Buttigieg took a jab at his primary rival Joe Biden for what he characterized as Biden touting Obama administration victories as if they were his own.
“As to the achievements of the Obama administration, I have enormous regard for those achievements. I mean, if you look at what President Obama was able to do with two terms, it’s extraordinary,” the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor said in an MSNBC interview set to air Thursday. “But I think the bulk of the credit for the achievements of the Obama administration belong with President Obama.”
The former vice president has often pointed to achievements under the previous presidency when arguing why he should be the Democratic presidential nominee, calling it the “Obama-Biden administration” or referencing “Barack and I.”
Biden’s campaign responded to Buttigieg’s comment by pointing out a quote in which Obama, just before he left office in January 2017, said that Biden is “the finest vice president we have ever seen, and I also think he has been a lion of American history. The best part is, he’s nowhere close to finished.”
Buttigieg leads in partial results from Monday’s Iowa Democratic caucuses, the first nominating contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, while Biden lags in fourth place.
WATCH: As tensions rise in the 2020 race, @SRuhle sat down w/ @PeteButtigieg who says “the bulk of credit for the achievements of the Obama administration belong with President Obama” in an interview that airs tomorrow at 9am ET on MSNBC. pic.twitter.com/N5OyLHYblz
— MSNBC Public Relations (@MSNBCPR) February 6, 2020
