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"Obama edits and rewrites portions himself -- he is the better writer, Favreau insists -- and they usually work through final revisions together." I wonder if
by dcurtis 18y ago
"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 18y agoNo 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.
- derefr 18y agoWell, there's one other striking similarity: they were/are both under 50 upon inauguration. Obama is 47; Grant was 42.
- fbailey 18y agothat's not striking that just arbitrary, Bill Clinton was younger than Obama http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Presidents_by_age http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_President...
- derefr 18y agoI didn't mean to imply they were the only two under-50 presidents; simply that they were part of a small set, most of which share certain traits, creative ability being one. To wit, Obama's speeches, Grant's Memoirs, and Clinton's musical talent.
- gruseom 18y agoIs Clinton actually a talented musician? I thought he just knew how to play some.
- Prrometheus 18y agoDidn'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 18y agoLincoln 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.
- mattjaynes 18y agoI guess it depends on the relative 'recent memory' ;) I was born in '75 and remember the Reagan era well. Whether you liked him or not - he impressively wrote nearly all his own speeches, at least until his later White House years. He spent many years employed as a spokesman for GE and typically wrote all of his speeches by hand on yellow legal pads. An interesting sidenote - during his first campaigns, his opponents tried to damage him by saying all he knew how to do was make prepared speeches since he was a clueless actor from Hollywood. To combat that impression, he started making his appearances almost entirely Q&A so audiences could see he had his stuff down and could handle any questions placed to him. Hence Reagan's 'presidential nickname' the 'Great Communicator'. Fortunately Obama has 'Great Communicator' skills as well - it's certainly a lot more fun to have a president that can speak well ;) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan
- aristus 18y agoEisenhower wrote most of his own stuff, and before that he wrote most of John D MacArthur's speeches.
- sutro 18y agoBush writes a lot of his own material as well. The following excerpts show Bush speaking in his own authorial voice. Commanding. Magisterial. Lincolnesque. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ux3DKxxFoM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ux3DKxxFoM