Australian prime Minister Kevin Rudd swore on TV.
Obama, and authenticity
While the conservatives go on about how Obama's heavy use of the Teleprompter means he is an empty suit and a phony—just as Michael Steele's unscripted babbling means he is a sincere man of principle—a Chicago Tribune story comes out about Obama's tight relationship with speechwriter Jon Favreau.
He's the 27-year-old heartthrob scribe who I predicted would be gone within the year because he's too inexperienced and self-promoting for the job. A sign he might prove me wrong: Favreau didn't participate in the Trib story.
Also:
"I've never worked for a politician who values words as much as the president does," Obama senior adviser David Axelrod said. "The speechwriter is an unusually important person in the operation. [Obama's] willingness to entrust his words to others is limited."
As writers, we have to respect or at the very least understand the instincts of a statesman who wants to get the words exactly right in speeches—and who won't blab some empty blather some policy hack hands him for a Rose Garden speech. Like us, he feels his words are what he is as much as his actions are.
Questioning the authenticity of a guy who feels this way seems to be attacking him at his strength.
Doesn't it?
A little good news
In my latest on the Huffington Post, I discuss one thing in Chicago that's getting better—the Park District golf courses.