The Greatest Speech on Race (Ever Written By a White Guy?)
Politics — By Joe Carter on March 19, 2008 at 12:36 amYesterday Senator Barack Obama gave an impassioned and heartfelt speech on race in America. After reading the text online my first reaction was, “Great speech…I wonder who wrote it.”
Now if that wasn’t your first thought it’s probably a sign that you don’t live in Washington, D.C.
Wait? You thought Obama wrote it himself? Well, I suppose that’s not outside the realm of possibility. And I suspect he did throw in an anecdote and had a hand in adding a line or two. But wrote the whole thing himself? Extremely unlikely.
What is more probable is that the Great Race Speech was written by the “baby faced, 26-year-old white guy” Jon Favreau, the Obama campaign’s head speechwriter. (Ironic, isn’t it, that such a lauded speech on race was most likely written by a Liberal White Dude?) Favreau has become something of a star because of his ability to put words in Obama’s mouth. After the Illinois Senator gave his victory speech in Iowa, Michael Gerson, the conservative former speechwriter for George W. Bush, complimented Favreau on his great work. And rightly so.
Still, there is something unseemly about the practice, even if it is an open secret. In most of America, if you take someone else’s words and pass them off as your own it’s called plagiarism and it’s considered a heinous breach of ethics. In D.C. if you take someone else’s words and pass them off as your own it’s called ghostwriting and it’s considered the way business is done. Everyone in town acknowledges that, unless the person is part of the professional class of scribes, most big-wigs in D.C. aren’t writing their own material. Indeed, if you want to stump a politico in Washington, ask them about something they wrote in their latest op-ed. They’ll need to have some twenty-something staffer “remind” them of what they supposedly wrote.
(Fortunately, Christians are above this sort of chicanery. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:2) When we put our name on a work and give the audience the impression we wrote it then it means we wrote it…right?)
But my concern is not that politicians and other Beltway insiders lipsync the tunes produced by unacknowledged wordsmiths. What bothers me is that we watch some politician read someone else’s words off of a teleprompter and then fawn over their speech as if we just witnessed the oratorical pyrotechnics of a a Cicero or Churchill .
Technical excellence in delivering a speech is certainly a notable, albeit minor, skill. But if we are moved by the brilliance of the rhetoric why do we not lavish our praise on the person that actually produced the words and ideas? In other words, why do we swoon for the dummy rather than the ventriloquist?
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111 Comments
I’m struggling to see why the use of a speech writer is noteworthy. Is it because it was a powerful speech? Is it because the speech successfully put an end (which the exception of Sean Hannity of course) to the seemingly endless coverage about this? Because it knocked it out of the newscycle?
Is it because it brought Richardson out to support Obama?
I won’t speculate on the motivation of making a big deal out of Obama using a speech writer. I do know that as a Christian, I appreciate Obama’s stated desire to reconcile the parties and races in this country. That’s more Christ-like in my opinion, than we are currently getting from the promise-of-war McCain.
Well said, Apostle Press.
Mr. Carter, it seems that Obama did in fact write the speech himself. I’d like to see you retract your charges.
I’ve blogged about my specific issues with this post on my own blog. The entry can be found here.
Specifically, I’m curious as to why you insist on painting Sen. Obama as a non-Christian when he has said countless times that he is. You have also implied that he has deliberately deceived us in regards to this speech when is clear now that he did not. Thanks for your time.
Apostle Press
Joe, I’ve waited to fact-check this link as much as possible and all indication says that it is true. Obama wrote this speech himself. I’m confident that you’ll come to the same conclusion and update this entry with a retraction.
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I think that was a good speech
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The “back-and-forth” seems more like the “bickering” my two children engage in during their disagreements…
Why can’t either of the “sides” agree that ghostwriting occurs and that it might not matter if a purple alien wrote the speech.
I pick up the Declaration of Independence, and I read the words. If I give a speech using just that document, does it mean anything that I didn’t write the document if I support and agree with the document?
I agree that credit should be given to the writer(s). However, bickering, and it is…, about who COULD write it means all of you are assuming much about what others are writing or about those who can write. We don’t know what anyone else is thinking (with 100% certainty), and presuming that we do means we are prejudging.
Why not just ask? Has anyone tried to ask the Obama ticket who wrote the speech?
Many of us can write a great speech. To make the candidates (or movie stars, writers, or anyone else) seem that much “above” the average person is, in my humble opinion, the mistake everyone is making. Unless they are jumping or sitting, they put their pants on one leg at a time…
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