SAN DIEGO – The man who played candidate Obama in the 2008 presidential election has announced that he will run for president himself in 2012.
Jerry Williams, a professional Barack Obama impersonator, made the announcement during a speaking gig were he had been hired to play the president as a reminder to a group of young Democrats of what they voted for three years ago.
Williams was employed by the Obama campaign team to deliver captivating speeches filled with inspiring promises of a brighter future, but split from the team before the election win over his habit of “going overboard with the rhetoric at times.”
Impersonations you can believe in
The Californian native who said that the failure of the president to even try and make good on the promises he made on the campaign trail lead him launch his own campaign this year.
A run in 2012 would not only see him go against the incumbent but against fellow political impersonator Sarah Palin, who Williams described as “one of the best in the business”.
Eager to stress the difference between himself and president Obama, he highlighted “increased government transparency, ending the Bush-era tax cuts, curbing lobbyists, Iraq, shutting down of Guantanamo, reducing drone bombings, halting the expansion of the Patriot Act’s encroachment on civil liberties, putting an end to extraordinary rendition or even bringing meaningful reform to the banking industry,” as just a few examples of things he stood for in 2008 but Barack Obama had no intention of delivering.
“To this day people still can’t tell us apart. I remember guys coming up to me saying: ‘Yo Barack, I love your message of hope and change man’, and I would say: ‘I’m Jerry, but thanks’.”
I can’t believe it’s not change
With an estimated $400 million made from speaking engagements as the presidential impersonator, Williams’ reelection campaign kicked off with a fundraiser where his campaign received a boost after being endorsed by a Denzel Washington impersonator and two Al Sharpton lookalikes.
Even with the positive start, the Obama lookalike who performed so exceptionally in the 2008 race expected a hard battle to come against the current president.
Steven Curry, a political strategist was confident that despite the physical similarities voters would have no issue telling the two men apart as “one is a charismatic figure that seems able to walk on water as he delivers an impassioned message of a better future, and the other has been president since ’08.”
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