September 16, 2009 – 12:01 am
As I mentioned last week, Matt Latimer, a former Bush Administration speechwriter, has written a book. Given his recent Washington Post op-ed, in which he hyperventilated about firing presidential speechwriters and took a crack at Karl Rove, I assumed the book’s thesis would annoy me. Turns out I was right. An excerpt appears in October’s […]
September 15, 2009 – 10:54 am
There’s been way too much talking recently. And it just gets people in trouble and drains seconds out of our lives. We’d be better off if these people would shut the hell up: Rep. Joe Wilson. No need to be shouting things at the president on the House floor. Thank you for apologizing. But you’re not […]
September 14, 2009 – 10:42 am
Concern was registered the other day about Republicans in 1937 “stirring up ignorance and prejudice and blind fears.” No doubt a dark chapter in American public life. I remember my great-grandparents telling me they were livid about it. But it seems like some people never learn. Turns out President Obama may not have told the whole […]
September 14, 2009 – 9:52 am
This morning, former Clinton Administration Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman discussed an array of issues on CNBC. Asked by Erin Burnett whether taxes on health care companies to pay for reform will be passed on to consumers through higher prices for health insurance, Altman candidly replied (at about the 5:30 mark): Well I think everyone […]
September 11, 2009 – 4:27 pm
Over the last 48 hours, most of the water cooler talk in our office has been about Joe Wilson’s outburst during President Obama’s address to the joint session of Congress. My colleague, Jeff Shesol, helped put my rage at Wilson’s rage in perspective in this recent post to Politico’s Arena. He came across a letter in which […]
September 11, 2009 – 1:30 pm
More on White House speechwriting in September 2001. Though the period was obviously full of tension and concern, there were several lighthearted moments, too. For instance, at one meeting – it might have been on September 12th – when the speech staff was spit-balling ideas for the president’s sure-to-come address to the nation, one of […]
September 11, 2009 – 10:50 am
Quick story about the mechanics of speechwriting on September 11, 2001. On that day I was working as a research assistant in the White House speechwriting office. Later in the week, President Bush was to re-dedicate the Old Executive Office Building as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Given the building’s history – it once housed elements of […]
September 10, 2009 – 9:10 am
Regardless of whether anyone was watching, or anyone watching was persuadable on the issue of health care, President Obama’s health care address last night will be chalked up as a victory for one reason: He lowered his expectations. The president confirmed last night that he doesn’t want health care reform anymore; he wants health insurance […]
September 10, 2009 – 7:44 am
Several quick impressions. First, it was the best effort President Obama could possibly make. The speech–whether you thought the argument was spot-on or deceitful–was a well-crafted, rousing St. Crispen’s Day appeal that managed to both offer an open hand to Republicans, and slap them in the face with it. Second, Washington should not get a […]
September 9, 2009 – 6:24 am
In an op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal, Sarah Palin goes head-to-head with President Obama on health care. While giving a wink (and a wave) to her “death panels” coinage that came to dominate public conversation, Governor Palin steers clear of any incendiary rhetoric, instead offering a solid point-by-point rebuttal of some of the president’s […]
September 8, 2009 – 11:11 am
Matt Latimer is trying to sell a book and to do that he’s employed two strategies that have worked for others: (1) take an idea with a kernel of reason and pop it into something “bold” and “contrarian”; (2) and this applies to former Bush Administration staffers trying to sell books – say something negative about […]
September 8, 2009 – 12:16 am
OMG! No! No! No! How will I live? How will I feed my puppy, my parakeet, my pet rock? Not that I would elevate parochial interest above the greater good. Speechwriters are not a lobbyists, at least not until someone shouts fire us. That said, I am closer to Vinca on this than to Matt. […]
September 7, 2009 – 9:17 pm
President Obama’s socialist indoctrination script for schoolchildren was unleashed released today (Labor Day – workers of the world, indeed) and he offers just enough to raise conservatives’ hackles: You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and […]
September 7, 2009 – 9:53 am
I’d be interested to know what Ed and others think of Matt Latimer’s piece in yesterday’s Washington Post — “A Speechwriter’s Tip for Obama: Silence is Golden.” His overarching thesis, as others have argued as well, is that too much presidential airtime ultimately devalues the currency of the presidential word; that if Americans are seeing […]
September 5, 2009 – 12:19 pm
Our friend Max Atkinson has begun a new series discussing his research of which techniques speakers use to arouse applause from their audiences. He broke new ground in the mid 1980s after he analyzed dozens of famous politicians and identified various “claptraps.” A claptrap is a trick, device or language designed to catch applause. He […]
