Obama and speechwriters

How much does Obama rely upon speechwriters, and how much of his speeches does he write himself?

The conclusion to the speech he just gave about the economic situation–while lacking specifics–was rhetorically very well-written, with, for example, subtle references to FDR. (I’ll have to go over the transcript.)

I doubt the average person listening–even live on a Thursday morning–is going to catch such references. This speech was probably directed to Congress: “Get moving on this thing fast, because we’re approaching a depression.”

But is he the one who actually comes up with these subtle turns of phrase?

Obama has a speechwriter who does a lot of the work. A young guy, too. Here’s an article about him:

A few articles about Favreau, with a little attention being paid to the other writers:

From the New York Times:

Favreau in the Times:

From a longer piece in The Washington Post (this is on page 2):

Shortly after this the article details Obama’s Philadelphia speech, “A More Perfect Union,” and credits it almost entirely to Obama.

They’re going to be even busier in the White House. There’s a steady stream of presidential speeches and statements for this, that and the other event, anniversary and commemoration that need to be written. There’s no way any single individual could keep up with it all.

Yup - a good speech takes time to write: research, forethought, multiple drafts. And a president gives so damn many speeches there is just no way he could have time to hand craft every one by himself.

I would say not only does he have a speech writer he has several.

One of the things about Obama is he speaks very differently to different audiences.

Now-a-days it’s not enough to be yourself, you have to be yourself to a specific audience.

Didn’t Obama write his big speech on race himself? I think I remember hearing that.

Yes, he pretty much wrote the Philadelphia speech himself. By the way, about the quote from Favreau, cited above, “It’s a little bit like being Tom Brady’s quarterback coach,” he had a better version I saw someplace else. He said it was like being Ted Williams’ batting coach. Kid’s about 27 years old and has the wisdom and chops of a much older person.