
Obama's Chief Speechwriter, 27, Works on Inaugural Address While Making His Own Transition - kalvin
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/17/AR2008121703903.html
======
gruseom
Good article (though a tad gushy). I've been waiting to find out more about
Favreau for a while. It's an extraordinary story, and I agree with the other
commenters that it says a lot about Obama too.

One thing leapt out at me that has nothing to do with speechwriting. A lot of
research has been done in the past decade or so on the prolongation of
adolescence. It's a category of life that didn't use to exist (people went
from childhood straight to adulthood), arose in the form of "teenager" and has
been extending ever since. The last thing I read on this said it now extends
to the late 20s.

Well, this article is a striking example of that phenomenon. The author takes
it for granted that a 27 year old would naturally live an adolescent life.
It's not just that Favreau became a presidential speechwriter at 27 (though of
course that's an amazing achievement by any standard) - it's remarkable that
he's doing _anything_ other than goofing around with friends and playing video
games. Yet not so long ago, the opposite was the case: it would have been
remarkable if a 27 year old were not well along the path of job, marriage, and
kids.

I'm not commenting on whether this is good or bad, but it's a major social
phenomenon.

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dcurtis
"Obama edits and rewrites portions himself -- he is the better writer, Favreau
insists -- and they usually work through final revisions together."

I wonder if the same can be said of other presidents. Some of the classical
speeches from the early 20th century are really incredible. I wonder who
really wrote them.

Obama's acceptance speech was very powerful, too. One of the most powerful
speeches I have seen in a while. Comparatively, McCain's speeches seemed to
lack a varying style. They felt stale, and even his concession speech was kind
of boring.

If anything, this article really solidifies my feeling that Obama is a smart
guy.

~~~
mattmaroon
No Presidents in recent memory at least. From what I gather, the last one that
was noted as such was Grant. Let's hope for the sake of our nation that
Obama's similarities to him end with the pen.

~~~
Prrometheus
Didn't Lincoln write the Gettysburg Address himself? Legend has it he wrote it
on the train ride to the Battlefield, though I'm not sure if that's true.

~~~
smhinsey
Lincoln was before Grant, obviously, but yes, that is the story. I'm not sure
if it's apocryphal or what, but I believe it to be true.

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staunch
I hate to relate it to startups, really, but I couldn't help but think it
sounds so much like a startup that just got acquired. I hope the Whitehouse
doesn't do what big companies do to little startups so often. Hopefully the
fact that they're not being taken in so much as taking over means it won't be
so demotivating. Obama can sign an executive order allowing jeans in the Oval
Office, right?

~~~
jd
There's a difference. When a small company gets acquired by IBM, the IBM
people stay in charge. The little fish gets swallowed.

Here, the startup is suddenly in charge of the behemoth. So there's no real
reason to assume everything is going to change for the worse.

~~~
danohuiginn
You underestimate institutional momentum. Try watching 'Yes, Minister', which
is a far-too-believable take on how the bureaucrats keep politicians in line.

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gruseom
Just ran across this blog entry from the marvelous James Fallows: Jon Favreau
is not the youngest chief presidential speechwriter!

[http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/12/i_am_sh...](http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/12/i_am_shocked_to_see_a_factual.php)

(I almost submitted this to HN but it's not really worth a post of its own, so
I'll put it here.)

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raheemm
You know its amazing this guy is where he is at such an early age - he is
certainly talented. It also speaks volumes about Obama that he recognized
talent and obviously knows how to nurture it. I am looking forward to the
inaugural address.

~~~
robg
To be fair, Favreau has also likened the job to being Ted Williams' hitting
coach. That's not to say he isn't talented. Just that he's already working
with someone so gifted it may not matter who his coaches are so long as they
know when to get out of the way.

~~~
brandnewlow
You raise a good point. Obama probably likes having someone so young and
inexperienced writing his speeches. There's no ego to deal with. If Obama's
speechwriter thought he was a better writer than Obama, there'd be problems.

Makes a lot more sense now, actually.

~~~
micks56
Jon was a friend of a friend when I was in college. Very sharp guy. He was
working in Washington for another senator a couple years ago. That is where he
met Obama.

Jon also worked on the Deval Patrick campaign for governor in Massachusetts,
too. Jon wrote his speeches, too.

------
mattmaroon
Didn't he also write Swingers? Barack is so money, and he doesn't even know
it.

~~~
rms
Different Jon Favreau

~~~
mattmaroon
Glad someone at least caught the reference. Why am I not surprised it was you?

How long do you wait to call your babies?

must... resist... urge... to... quote...

------
Prrometheus
But, doesn't he know that Saccharine in large quantities causes cancer?

Seriously, though, nothing that Obama's said during the campaign has been
remotely memorable to me, though I did stop listening to all his speeches as
their numbers accumulated. Were any as memorable as, say, Reagan's "A Time to
Choose"? Were any quotable? I'm sure they're on youtube, and I would be
willing to turn off the old analytical mind for a moment to listen to a nice
piece of performance art from the man, if any exists.

And not the "new day in America/ a time for change/ things haven't been going
well for a lot of folks/ problems on main street" kind of pablum that I
remember from the campaign.

~~~
peakok
I don't know why you're being downvoted. It's cool for the guy, but I found
the speeches of Obama completely dull as well. Maybe the talent resides in
writing speeches that will offend absoluetly nobody while masking the fact
that they tell nothing at all, just like anything that aims to gain universal
consensus. I, for one, was definitly not sensible to this tone.

------
brandnewlow
I just wanted to remark that I am thrilled to have a writer in the White
House, and someone who thinks of himself as a writer, as a craftsman, as
someone who creates things for other people.

~~~
quickpost
I'm thrilled to know that Obama can place so much trust and responsibility in
young people's hands. Glad to see a president that can recognize true talent
regardless of age.

~~~
danohuiginn
Nothing new - Bush had very young speechwriters too:
[http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:-EuLK3eajXIJ:americasfu...](http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:-EuLK3eajXIJ:americasfuture.org/doublethink/2008/02/dcs-
kid-speechwriters/)

Now, I'd be fascinated to hear _why_ speechwriters tend to be young. Because,
unlike other political roles, it doesn't require decades' work building up
contacts? Because younger writers are somehow fresher or more energetic?

It's certainly an odd, interesting phenomenon. But it's Washington as a whole,
not just Obama.

~~~
jedc
It's my understanding that the bulk of the internal White House staffers are
fairly young. Likely because of hellish working hours/conditions there.

------
mynameishere
The despicable whitewashing of the BHO campaign goes on. Maybe when the
newspapers are threatened with looming bankruptcy will they treat that corrupt
Chicago gangster with equity (for the sake of sales). Until then, we're stuck
with hagiography and cocksuckism writ on a grand strategic scale. The neocons
are in firm, firm control. Expect hard-rightism in foreign policy, hard-lefism
in domestic policy. Same as Bush. Nothing more disgusting than a sucker
repeatedly warned.

[http://timepassonline.blogspot.com/2008/12/jon-favreau-
hilla...](http://timepassonline.blogspot.com/2008/12/jon-favreau-hillary-
clinton-photo.html)

Yes, the drunk 19-year-olds define public thought. You voted for it, bitches.

~~~
mattmaroon
Perhaps you mistook this site for Reddit?

~~~
staunch

        -3 points by mattmaroon 35 minutes ago | link
        Didn't he also write Swingers? Barack is so money, and he doesn't even know it.
        reply
    

Looks like you both did tonight :-)

~~~
davidw
Well, for that matter so did kalvin and the 10 people who voted for this
article about politics.

~~~
mattmaroon
The article was chiefly about writing. It's fairly apolitical really. It just
happens to be about a guy who writes for the President.

~~~
davidw
There would be zero story there without Obama.

~~~
mattmaroon
That doesn't make it political.

