Ah, for those halcyon days when the president of the United States was an intellectual and a serious reader. And he can sing, too!
In Grace, Cody Keenan, Obama’s chief White House speechwriter, takes us back to the period from Wednesday, June 17 through Friday, June 26 in the penultimate year of the Obama presidency during which some of the most consequential events during his administration happened and played themselves out.
Prior to working in the White House, Keenan began his career in politics as an unpaid employee in the windowless mail room of the late Senator Ted Kennedy. By the time he left to attend the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, he was a legislative aid. Over one summer break during the first Obama presidential campaign, he worked as an intern for Jon Favreau, a junior speechwriter formerly with John Kerry’s presidential campaign staff, and then returned to college in the fall to finish his degree. After Obama’s election, he was hired by Favreau to become part of the speech writing team at the White House. When Favreau left, Keenan was named chief speech writer.
