Resurfaced video captures Obama promoting DOGE-like federal initiative

Ever since he took the helm of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tech mogul Elon Musk has been the target of insults, allegations, and even threats of violence from those standing in opposition to his push for federal cost-cutting and downsizing.

Interestingly, recently resurfaced video footage shows then-President Barack Obama, undeniably a darling of the left, calling for precisely the sort of government-wide fiscal review and spending reductions now championed by Musk, as Fox News reports.

Obama advocates for spending cuts

The video which dates back to 2011, shows then President Obama outlining what he said was the need for substantial reductions in federal spending, changes he suggested were necessary even if they affected programming that “a lot of people care about.”

Obama continued, “Everyone knows that getting rid of the deficit will require some tough decisions, and that includes cutting back on billions of dollars in programs that a lot of people care about.”

The then-president noted the importance not just of doing a deep dive into well-established federal programs, but also of eliminating “pointless waste and stupid spending that doesn't benefit anybody,” a process he said should be prioritized “even if we didn't have a deficit.”

Expressing sentiments that seem startlingly similar to those of Musk's DOGE initiative, Obama added, “No amount of waste is acceptable, especially when it's your money.”

Obama even went so far as to target for cuts “thousands of buildings across the country that no one uses” but for which the government was still paying, a realm that has also been prioritized by Musk's DOGE staffers.

Biden tapped to lead

In an initiative designed to address his stated fiscal concerns, Obama created the “Campaign to Cut Spending” and selected then-Vice President Joe Biden to helm the program, as Breitbart notes.

The 2011 video footage reveals that Biden would lead “a renewed effort to hunt down misspent tax dollars in every agency and department of this government,” something Obama said his VP was well-suited to do because, “nobody messes with Joe.”

Though Obama also issued an executive order establishing the “Government Accountability and Transparency Board,” the aforementioned cost-cutting endeavor ultimately fizzled without making much of a dent in its goals.

Musk's musings

After the 2011 footage made its way to X, Musk himself took note, musing on the platform, “Obama sounds exactly like @DOGE!!”

The fundamental difference between the government efficiency plans launched by Obama and Trump appears to be the person put in charge of them, and Musk's dogged determination to fulfill the current president's vision is what has the left in an anger spiral from which its members may ever recover.