Mark offers the contours of a fascinating chapter in presidential speechwriting history. But where Mark was diplomatic and restrained, I’m going for the big reveal, and assuming that the story to which he alludes is Peter Robinson’s experience writing President Reagan’s celebrated remarks in Berlin — “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Here’s Peter’s article […]
Jeff posted an interesting piece on people coming out of the woodwork to pose as former White House speechwriters. Speechwriters face a lot of dilemmas when it comes to credit-taking: What credit is owed to the writer of speech? And how can that writer enjoy recognition, without stepping all over his boss? Ted Sorensen famously […]
The unwritten rule among speechwriters is that we are heard, but rarely heard from. But what about when they’re heard from, without actually ever being heard. Such is the strange case of Jacob Rigg, who has been making a name for himself in the UK claiming to be an Obama speechwriter. And give him credit […]
Let me second what Vinca says about Mr. Obama and the TelePrompter. More than with any other office — well, almost any, chair of the Fed being the exception — presidential communications is about discipline. Some of this is that, as president, your words become policy. If you care so little about them that others […]
A $787 billion stimulus bill. Hundreds of billions — even trillions — on the war in Iraq. Trillions of dollars of lost shareholder value. Trillions of dollars more in toxic assets. Big numbers are simultaneously scary and antiseptic — too abstract to comprehend. Thanks to fellow blogger and friend Ian Griffin for alerting me to […]
Nice piece from former Bush 43 speechwriter turned Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson on “What the Teleprompter Teaches“: …it is a mistake to argue that the uncrafted is somehow more authentic. Those writers and commentators who prefer the unscripted, who use “rhetoric” as an epithet, who see the teleprompter as a linguistic push-up bra, do […]
The Wall Street Journal’s “Numbers Guy,” Carl Bialik, has an intriguing story in today’s edition. Bialik’s piece includes a complex environmental problem and a communications challenge. The environmental problem: There’s a big batch of plastic floating in a concentrated area of the Pacific Ocean (pieces of it pictured at right). It may be the size […]
Reviews are in from this weekend’s Gridiron Dinner, and despite some grumbling (too long, too predictable, the president shoulda been there), it sounds like there were plenty of laughs served up — especially from Vice President Joe Biden, who began: “Axelrod really wanted me to do this on teleprompter — but I told him I’m […]
You know things are getting dicey in Obamaland when the highly regarded Politico runs a full page Friday story titled, “Lesson: Communications Is More Than Eloquence — Obama’s campaign messaging skills not translating to office.” Politico says the problem has many sources. Messages go from gloomy talk to happy talk and back to gloomy in […]
March 20, 2009 – 10:12 am
President Obama apologized to Nancy Reagan for a wisecrack about seances. He apologized for last night’s thoughtless “Special Olympics” jibe on the Tonight Show. He has also “taken responsibility” for the AIG fiasco. Earlier, he took responsibility and apologized for several missteps in the appointment process. There is a lesson here for every corporate executive. […]
Further on the perils of executive teleprompting — the Irish Prime Minister was embarrassed yesterday as he launched into his remarks at the White House St. Patrick’s Day reception, only to discover, to his mortification, that he was reading the President’s speech. President Obama tried to help him recover, saying as he stepped to the […]
Much of the media and blogosphere have proclaimed today “Jon Stewart Day” in honor of the Daily Show host’s skewering of CNBC’s Jim Cramer last night. Commentators have made a habit of slobbering over Stewart in the last few years – promoting him as the antidote to boring old news, the guy who’s able to […]
West Wing Writers had the pleasure of meeting with a visiting delegation of Swedish and Danish progressives earlier this week, and talking about political communications in anticipation of upcoming electoral campaigns in Scandinavia. Among the topics we debated was whether things were “different” for female candidates — looking back at the Clinton-Obama primary contest and […]
March 12, 2009 – 12:43 pm
I don’t know much about the Charles Freeman saga that recently ended with Freeman’s withdrawing his name from consideration to be chairman of the National Intelligence Council. I never heard of the man before last week and I only read brief highlights of the arguments at The Atlantic and The Weekly Standard. David Broder published a […]
March 12, 2009 – 10:25 am
Michael Steele’s interview with GQ, posted online today, has generated buzz because of Steele’s remarks on abortion. He uses the word “choice,” which triggered alarms across the right-wing and mainstream media. In context, Steele’s remarks on abortion may be a little looser than one expects from a Republican Party chairman, but they are in line […]
