![]() ![]() These are the people who staffed Obama's administration.Ĭhief of staff Denis McDonough is "a library of folksy metaphors." Communications director Jen Psaki is a "whip-smart, flame-haired" "bolt of cheer." Press secretary Josh Earnest has "an unguarded smile and a very un-Washington willingness to reveal boyish wonder at a new discovery." Senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer is "deeply thoughtful, mildly sardonic, and well liked" with an "encyclopedic knowledge of rap." Keenan describes his like-minded White House colleagues as if pitching a reboot of The West Wing, the obnoxiously idealistic TV series that inspired an entire generation of privileged nerds to go into politics and make a difference. Even his former admirers are starting to wonder whether the incessant speechmaking was a tad self-indulgent, a vehicle for Obama to show off and help liberals feel good about themselves. It's jarring to revisit years later, when Obama's aura of messianic invincibility has faded considerably. His speeches didn't just change minds, they changed history. Obama's extreme arrogance wasn't bizarre, it was justified. This was certainly the prevailing view at the time among the already persuaded journalists and elite professionals whose views tended to prevail. ![]() That's one way of assessing Obama's talent for persuasion. The self-proclaimed "better speechwriter than my speechwriters" would politely assess his drafts-"well-written, but."-before striking 12 paragraphs and replacing them with 30 new ones to create "a beautiful emotional nexus" that could "change people's thinking about America and its possibilities." (This was before Smart Brevity™ was invented.) Nevertheless, he persisted, driven by the "fear of failing" his boss, the globally significant orator who could "turn the text into a script, a sheet of music, a piece of American art on display in a striking scene." That's what made working for Obama so "fucking terrifying," Keenan explains. Even the celebrity aspect was annoying, with reporters pestering his family members for details about his life. ![]() He wound up at Walter Reed hospital with an irregular heartbeat and hypertension. Overworked and underslept, the author would twist himself into "pretzels of self-loathing" in the "jaundiced fluorescence" of his basement office while "sitting alone at a computer, bereft of sunlight, freaking out about what to write, stewing in a toxic mix of pressure, stress, and self-doubt." Keenan "ruined three consecutive Christmases" by obsessing over a State of the Union address no one cares about. The way Keenan describes it, being Obama's top speechwriter was a living hell. Grace is intended for people who find this "drama" compelling. Keenan didn't want to write it because of time constraints and white guilt and imposter syndrome. And it almost didn't happen. Obama didn't want to give the eulogy until Valerie Jarrett ordered him to do it. The time Obama sang "Amazing Grace" at the pastor's funeral. It is regarded by people who regard such things as the "most famous" of the 44th president's speeches. The story eventually culminates in a viral moment the average voter might vaguely remember seeing on Facebook or YouTube. Keenan, best known for wearing a pirate costume to make fun of Fox News, recounts his noble struggle to prepare speeches for momentous Supreme Court rulings on Obamacare and gay marriage, as well as a eulogy for Clementa Pinckney, the pastor murdered by a racist coward along with eight others at a church in Charleston, S.C. The book is as overwrought and tediously verbose as an Obama speech, describing utensils that "blared patriotic merriment" and the "cobalt, maybe sapphire" color of the president's tie. Grace by Cody Keenan, the top White House speechwriter during Obama's second term, is a "behind-the-scenes drama" encompassing a 10-day period in 2015 during which the wunderkind author and his genius boss "composed a series of high-stakes speeches" that changed the world or whatever. One of those white dorks has written a book about what it was like. When the people in charge of deciding such things decided the white dorks who helped Obama write his speeches would be treated like actual celebrities. That was a different time, back when John Boehner and Mitt Romney were considered existential threats to democracy. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |