Jon Favreau (speechwriter) - Obama Campaign

Obama Campaign

Obama communications aide Robert Gibbs, who had worked for Kerry's campaign, recommended Favreau to Obama as an excellent writer, and in 2005 he began working for Barack Obama in his United States Senate office, before joining Obama's presidential campaign as chief speechwriter in 2007. His interview with Obama was on the Senator's first day. Uninterested in Favreau's résumé, Obama instead questioned Favreau on what motivated him to work in politics, and what his theory of writing was. He described this theory to Obama as, "A speech can broaden the circle of people who care about this stuff. How do you say to the average person that's been hurting: 'I hear you, I'm there?' Even though you've been so disappointed and cynical about politics in the past, and with good reason, we can move in the right direction. Just give me a chance."

Favreau led a speech writing team for the campaign that also included Adam Frankel, Ben Rhodes and Cody Keenan. For his work with Obama in the campaign, he would wake as early as 5am, and routinely stayed up until 3am working on speeches. His leadership style among the other Obama speechwriters is very informal. They will often meet in a small conference room, discussing their work late into the evening over take-out food. According to Rhodes, Favreau did not drive structured meetings with agendas. "If he had, we probably would have laughed at him," Rhodes said. Favreau is planning to hire more speechwriters to assist him, but concedes he is unsure of how to manage them. According to him, "My biggest strength isn't the organization thing."

He has likened his position to "Ted Williams's batting coach", because of Obama's celebrated abilities as a speaker and writer. Obama senior adviser David Axelrod said of Favreau, "Barack trusts him ... And Barack doesn't trust too many folks with that — the notion of surrendering that much authority over his own words." In Obama's own words, Favreau is his "mind reader". He and Obama share a fierce sports rivalry, between the Boston Red Sox, favored by Favreau, and the Chicago White Sox, favored by Obama. When the White Sox defeated the Red Sox 3-0 in the 2005 American League playoffs, Obama swept off Favreau's desk with a small broom. During the campaigns, he was obsessed with election tracking polls, jokingly referring to them as his "daily crack". At points during the campaign, he was said to feel overwhelmed by his responsibilities, and would turn to David Axelrod, and his friends, for advice.

On December 5, 2008, a picture of Favreau grabbing the breast of a cardboard cut-out of Hillary Clinton was posted on Facebook. Favreau called Senator Clinton’s staff to offer an apology. They told him to not worry about it, saying, "Senator Clinton is pleased to learn of Jon's obvious interest in the State Department, and is currently reviewing his application."

Favreau has declared that the speeches of Robert Kennedy and Michael Gerson have influenced his work, and has expressed admiration for Peggy Noonan's speechwriting, citing a talk given by Ronald Reagan at Pointe du Hoc as his favorite Noonan speech. Gerson also admires Favreau's work, and sought him out at an Obama New Hampshire campaign rally to speak with the younger speechwriter. He was the primary writer of Obama's inauguration address of January 2009. The Guardian describes the process as follows: "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 speechwriters, studied periods of crisis, and listened to past inaugural orations. When ready, he took up residence in a Starbucks in Washington and wrote the first draft."