Inaugural speeches: Don’t copy
Jon Favreau, Barack Obama’s wunderkind speechwriter, has crafted several winning addresses so far, but a panel of former presidential speechwriters warned Thursday that the inaugural is a different beast entirely. Speaking from at George Washington University, former Nixon speechwriter Raymond Price said there’s a “big difference” between the inaugural address and anything said during the campaign.
Because the inaugural speech “is your first time as president,” Price said it’s imperative to use to speech to portray “the direction you want to take the country. ŠIt sets the mood for your entire presidency.”
Walter Shapiro, former speechwriter to Jimmy Carter, agreed that Obama should not regurgitate what was said on election night, nor should he copy past inaugural addresses. “To be honest, what I’m most scared about was I heard Favreau say he’s reading a lot of inaugural addresses,” Shapiro admitted.
