Reading the president’s mind
Jon Favreau has been called the president’s mind reader, by none other than Barack Obama himself. But during a visit to Harvard Kennedy School on Wednesday, the former director of speechwriting at the White House — a veteran of both of Obama’s presidential campaigns — stressed that there’s nothing supernatural about the day-to-day grind of putting words in the mouth of the commander in chief. “Your only goals are to clearly explain simple policies in as little words as possible, and then spend as much time as you can … inspiring people,” Favreau said. Favreau sat down in the packed John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum for a conversation with David Gergen, director of the Center for Public Leadership and himself a onetime presidential speechwriter — for Richard Nixon. (Gergen was also an adviser for Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton.) It was a fitting venue, given that Favreau’s relationship with Obama closely...