<!-- end article-header -->
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/20/barack-obama-inauguration-us-speech
When Barack Obama steps up to the podium to deliver his
inaugural address, one man standing anonymously in the crowd will
be paying especially close attention. With his cropped hair, five
o'clock shadow and boyish face, he might look out of place among
the dignitaries, though as co-author of the speech this man has
more claim than most to be a witness to this moment of history.
Jon Favreau, 27, is, as Obama himself puts it, the president's
mind reader. He is the youngest chief speechwriter on record in the
White House, and, despite such youth, was at the centre of
discussions of the content of today's speech, one which has so much
riding on it.
For a politician whose rise to prominence was largely built upon
his powers as an orator, Obama is well versed in the arts of
speech-making. But today's effort will tower over all previous
ones.
It is not just that Obama has set an extremely high bar by
invoking the inaugural speeches of Abraham Lincoln as his
inspiration - admitting to feeling "intimidated" when he read them.
It is also that, as he begins his term with the US in an economic
crisis and two wars, he knows he needs to kick start his presidency
with a soaring rhetoric that both moves and motivates the American
people.
The tone of the speech could be decisive in determining how the
public responds to his first 100 days, as Franklin Roosevelt's
famous line "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" helped
to determine his.
Obama aides have let it be known that a key theme will be
restoring responsibility - both in terms of accountability in
Washington and the responsibility of ordinary people to get
involved. Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, talks of a "culture
of responsibility" that would "not just be asked of the American
people; its leaders must also lead by example."
In composing the high notes of the speech, Obama has leant on
Favreau, whom he discovered almost by chance four years ago when
the younger man was working on John Kerry's failed presidential
bid. "Favs" has since studied Obama's speech patterns and cadences
with the intensity of a stalker. He memorised the 2004 speech to
the Democratic national convention which first brought Obama into
the limelight. He is said to carry Obama's autobiography, Dreams
From My Father, wherever he goes. As a result, last November when
Favreau sat down to write the first draft of the inaugural address,
he could conjure up his master's voice as if an accomplished
impersonator.
That skill had been put to almost daily use in the 18 months of
brutal campaigning on the presidential trail. Favreau would be up
most nights until 3am, honing the next day's stump speeches in a
caffeine haze of espressos and Red Bull energy drinks, taking
breaks to play the video game Rock Band. He coined a phrase for
this late-night deadline surfing: "crashing".
He crashed his way through all Obama's most memorable speeches.
He wrote the draft of one that helped to turn Iowa for Obama while
closeted in a coffee shop in Des Moines. For the presidential
election, he wrote two speeches: one for a victory, one for defeat.
When the result came through, he emailed his best friend: "Dude, we
won. Oh my God."
The tension between such youthful outbursts and his onerous role
has sometimes cost the 27-year-old. In December, pictures of him
and a friend mocking a cardboard cut-out of Hillary Clinton at a
party, Favreau's hand on her breast, were posted on Facebook to his
huge embarrassment.
Obama is an accomplished writer in his own right, and the
process of drafting with his mind reader is collaborative. The
inaugural speech has shuttled between them four or five times,
following an initial hour-long meeting in which the president-elect
spoke about his vision for the address, and Favreau took notes on
his computer.
Favreau then went away and spent weeks on research. His team
interviewed historians and speech writers, studied periods of
crisis, and listened to past inaugural orations. When ready, he
took up residence in Starbucks in Washington and wrote the first
draft. The end result will be uttered on the steps of the
Capitol.
Obama's mind reader has crashed his way through yet another
deadline.
Wao so HE came up with the speeches.. man hes impressive
