Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has proudly declared himself an “Obamaphobic,” but when it comes to campaigning, the Texas Republican has a role model in the White House.
Cruz told Time in an interview published Thursday that — their ideological differences notwithstanding — he believes President Barack Obama is an “extraoridnary politician” who he respects “a great deal.” The freshman senator said that his successful 2012 campaign took cues from Obama’s 2008 primary bid. He said he even gave staffers copies of “The Audacity to Win,” the retrospective written by Obama’s 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe.
I think Barack Obama is an extraordinary politician. And I respect Barack Obama a great deal. I think he is committed to his principles, which is rare in politics. Now I also think, and please don’t leave this part out, that the principles he believes in are profoundly dangerous. I respect that he believes, I think genuinely, with all of his heart, that government control of economy and redistribution of wealth betters the world. I think moving in that direction has wreaked havoc to the American economy. The people who suffer in the Obama economy have been young people, African Americans, Hispanics, single moms.
There were two campaigns on which we modeled our campaign for Senate, and they were Obama’s campaign for President in 2008 and Marco Rubio’s campaign for Senate in 2010. If you look at that 2008 Democratic primary, there was no more formidable, unstoppable candidate — other than an incumbent President — in modern times than Hillary Clinton. And Barack Obama ran a guerrilla campaign that empowered the people. So for Christmas I gave a number of campaign staffers David Plouffe’s book, The Audacity to Win.
Cruz has been in the vanguard of the effort spearheaded by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) to defund Obamacare, lamenting last month that many Republicans are too “scared” to join their cause.
