What Makes A Presidential Speechwriter?

We've all heard or read U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's speeches this year, or at the very least, seen clips and snippets of them. Americans old enough to know say that his speeches have been the most uplifting and inspirational since U.S. President John F. Kennedy's. I've always been under the impression that Obama writes his own speeches, but it seems he has a co-writer: 27 year old Jon Favreau, who will serve in the White House as Director of Speechwriting.

In this Washington Post article, "Helping To Write History", we get to know the young man behind so many of Obama's memorable speeches, and who is also helping draft his inaugural address.

Here's an interesting excerpt:

Still more daunting is the list of things Favreau can't think about as he writes the inaugural. He went for a run to the Lincoln Memorial last month and stopped in his tracks when he imagined the mall packed with 3 million people listening to some of his words. A few weeks later, Favreau winced when Obama spokesman Bill Burton reminded him: "Dude, what you're writing is going to be hung up in people's living rooms!"

"If you start thinking about what's at stake, it can get paralyzing," Favreau said.

More than once I've been given the warning "Once you become aware that you're writing, for whatever reason, you're no longer writing". It's the flipside of reading story passages that suddenly jolt you out of the narrative because the way the text is written makes you aware that you're reading. This seems to apply to Mr. Favreau. :)