Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau hints that Americans should expect a Reagan-style speech from President Obama during tonight’s State of the Union address.
“I think in some ways this is the ‘Morning in America’ speech in response to the malaise speech that the Republican candidates have been giving the entire primary season,” Favreau said in an interview with National Public Radio.
Favreau was challenged by the NPR host, who pointed out that Obama had been trying to make the case that America was getting better for several years while people were increasingly disappointed in his leadership.
“Well every time he says it, it becomes more true,” Favreau said with a laugh. He admitted however the ongoing reality of Americans continuing to struggle economically after suffering a massive economic depression. He blamed the news media for highlighting “dreary and dismal accounts” that were affecting the national mood as they were facing another election.
“I think the president has a opportunity here to say, ‘No, we have a lot going for us as a country,’” he said.
Favreau has left the White House to work at his own public relations firm – but recalled that Obama often tried to escape the “soundbite culture” of politics and add more “poetry” when working on his speech.
“He’s better than all of us at finding language that you don’t hear in politics every day, and so a lot of sort of the uplifting lofty rhetoric that he’s known for in these speeches, you know, he comes up with himself,” he said.
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