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05 Dec 2008 09:17 am
The Wordsmith
Mark Warren profiles Jon Favreau, Obama's precocious and gifted speechwriter:
He is too busy to read much. "I'm embarrassed to say that since college"--Favreau graduated from Holy Cross in 2003--"I've been so busy speechwriting for Kerry and then Barack that I haven't been reading all the good literary stuff I used to read back in the day." As for speechcraft, while he says the speeches of Bobby Kennedy are his favorites, he also says Peggy Noonan is his all-time favorite speechwriter.
He cites Ronald Reagan's Pointe du Hoc speech marking the fortieth
anniversary of D-day as his favorite of hers, and in Noonan's sugary
epic, you can hear the faint echo of Barack Obama talking about his
grandfather.
Favreau also says he has greatly admired the writing of Michael
Gerson, who was President Bush's main speechwriter for five years,
especially his address to the joint session of Congress after the
September 11 attacks. Gerson returns the admiration. One night in New
Hampshire, he sought out Favreau at a campaign rally and introduced
himself to talk shop.
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