WATCH: Is Ted Cruz the Tea Party’s Barack Obama?

“Can you name one piece of legislation that Barack Obama passed in four years in the Senate that would suggest he knew how to work with people any better than Ted Cruz?” Joe Scarborough asked on Tuesday.

Joe Scarborough has a question: Is Sen. Ted Cruz the Tea Party version of Sen. Barack Obama?

“Name me the major piece of legislation that Barack Obama passed in the United States Senate that would suggest that he knew how to work the Senate and would be an effective president of the United States,” Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough challenged his panel on Tuesday.

Cruz has held his Senate seat for less than a year, but is already considered a 2016 presidential contender.

Obama was elected president after just four years in the Senate.

“Can you name one piece of legislation that Barack Obama passed in four years in the United States Senate that would suggest he knew how to work with people any better than Ted Cruz?” Scarborough asked.

“I am not debating he came out of nowhere,” Morning Joe regular Donny Deutsch responded. “I’m challenging you on is to compare him to the wacky extremist views of a Ted Cruz is different.”

(L) Ted Cruz speaks during the Republican National Convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on August 28, 2012 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) (R) US President Barack Obama pauses while speaking at the Ford Kansas City Stamping Plant September 20, 2013 in Liberty, Missouri. (Photo by Brenden Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

Co-host Mika Brzezinski fired back that the president’s accomplishments exceeded his Senate record.

“I think the parallel with the president is unfair and can anyone name a president, the answer is no, who has passed healthcare?” she said. “Can you name presidents who tried? Yes. No one’s been able to do it.”

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

Obama’s voting record in the Senate was quite liberal, but he also displayed a streak of bipartisanship. He and now retired Indiana Republican Sen. Dick Lugar shepherded legislation to further dismantle weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union.

Obama and Oklahoma’s Republican Sen. Tom Coburn also passed a bill requiring more transparency in federal funding, and the president worked on a handful of successful amendments to other bills.

Cruz has sponsored a variety of legislation in his short time in office–anti-Obamacare bills but also measures related to guns, voting, and drones–but none have succeeded.

Watch the full discussion here on Morning Joe.