A Playful Misconception, A Childhood's Dream

Here’s another crap as you pile on the years. You’ll notice more and more people younger than you are making a name for themselves in this world and you’re still stuck in your nine-to-five.

Thanks to Mark Leo’s link on Facebook, meet Jon Favreau (no, not the Iron Man director), Obama’s speechwriter and the youngest ever staff in the White House. He’s 27 now, and started with Obama four years ago.

Here’s part of a very nice read.

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“Especially now, as Favreau and the rest of Obama’s young staffers begin a transition that extends far beyond new job titles. Three months ago, Favreau lived in a group house with six friends in Chicago, where he rarely shaved, never cooked and sometimes stayed up to play video games until early morning.

Now, he has transformed into what one friend called a ‘Washington political force’ — a minor celebrity with a down payment on a Dupont Circle condo, whose silly Facebook photos with a Hillary Rodham Clinton cutout created what passes for controversy in Obama’s so far drama-free transition.

Favreau believes he will transition well if he focuses exclusively on writing, which is why he has buried himself in the inaugural address. He moves while he writes to avoid becoming stale — from the Starbucks, to his windowless transition office, to his new, one-bedroom condo, where the only furniture in place is a blow-up mattress on the hardwood floor. He sometimes writes until 2 or 3 a.m., fueled by double espresso shots and Red Bull. When deadline nears, a speech consumes him until he works 16-hour days and forgets to call home, do his laundry or pay his bills. He calls it ‘crashing’.

Last month, Favreau met for an hour in Chicago with Obama and adviser David Axelrod, as is their habit before important speeches. Obama told him to make the inaugural address no longer than 15 or 20 minutes, and they agreed to theme it around, Favreau said, ‘this moment that we’re in, and the idea that America was founded on certain ideals that we need to take back’.”

“Still more daunting is the list of things Favreau can’t think about as he writes the inaugural. He went for a run to the Lincoln Memorial last month and stopped in his tracks when he imagined the mall packed with 3 million people listening to some of his words. A few weeks later, Favreau winced when Obama spokesman Bill Burton reminded him: “Dude, what you’re writing is going to be hung up in people’s living rooms!”

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