Elon Musk Shares Barack Obama's 2011 Video, Compares It To DOGE's Mission

Elon Musk has reignited discussions on government spending by sharing an old video of former US President Barack Obama. 

In the clip, which is from 2011, Mr Obama can be heard speaking about eliminating unnecessary expenditures.

Mr Musk's post comes amid growing criticism of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a cost-cutting initiative launched under US President Donald Trump's administration. 

As DOGE faces backlash over layoffs and budget reductions, Mr Musk highlighted Barack Obama's remarks, implying that Democrats once endorsed similar measures.

It seems that Mr Musk is drawing a parallel between DOGE's efforts and the former president's approach to fiscal responsibility.

The video resurfaced online after a user shared it on X (formerly Twitter). Without wasting much time, Mr Musk retweeted it on his page and wrote, “[Barack] Obama sounds exactly like DOGE!!”

Obama sounds exactly like @DOGE!! https://t.co/k92s04pJdY

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2025

Barack Obama's 2011 ‘Campaign To Cut Waste'

The video shows then-president Barack Obama launching the ‘Campaign To Cut Waste' in 2011, a federal initiative to reduce unnecessary government spending and tackle the deficit.

In the speech, Mr Obama highlighted the necessity of difficult budgetary decisions, while stressing that eliminating pointless waste and spending should be a common-sense approach, irrespective of deficit concerns.

The former president added that while some budget cuts may be small, eliminating wasteful spending is essential, especially when taxpayer money is at stake. He went on to highlight specific examples of inefficient government spending, such as taxpayer-funded websites for obscure projects and unused government-owned buildings. 

Mr Obama even mentioned a taxpayer-funded website for a folk music group of forest rangers as an example of spending that should be eliminated.

The Democrat president even introduced Joe Biden, who was the vice president then, as the head of the initiative to identify and eliminate wasteful government spending across all agencies and departments, saying that “nobody messes with Joe.”

Understanding DOGE

Created by an executive order on January 20, DOGE is a newly established advisory group focused on minimising waste within the federal government. 

Since its launch, the department has aggressively pursued significant job cuts. Led by Elon Musk, DOGE has taken bold steps to curb excess spending, including the recent deactivation of over 2,00,000 federal government credit cards.

The department has come under scrutiny for mass layoffs and financial restrictions that have affected various government departments.