最牛槍手曝光：我給奧巴馬寫(xiě)演講稿

President Barack Obama’s speech on economic policy Wednesday will be the first in an ambitious series of six addresses laying out a sweeping vision for America’s future. The philosophy at the core of the campaign will be familiar, but there will be “aggressive new ideas。”

That’s according to Cody Keenan, the speechwriter in charge of crafting what may be Obama’s most far-reaching second-term effort to get Americans to sign on to his plans。

Keenan sat down with Yahoo News for an exclusive interview in his office in the basement of the West Wing, a windowless space with a ceiling so low that the president’s head brushes it when he pays a visit. The walls are covered in political memorabilia, and the famous “bikini graph” on his desk sits next to a can of Red Bull。

Keenan, who at 32 holds the lofty title of director of speechwriting, pulled the curtain back on the process of writing a major presidential address. He also described how Mike Ditka could have kept Obama from reaching the White House, and what happens if you argue with the president about what he should say — and win。

Obama’s six speeches will cover education, housing, retirement security, health care, poverty and jobs, Keenan said, lightly tapping a cup of black, unsweetened iced coffee on his desk。

"In the weeks ahead — especially when it comes to college costs, which is something he’s obsessed with — we’ll have some aggressive new ideas,” said Keenan。

The president is giving the first one at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., because that's where he laid out his economic philosophy in 2005 in a commencement address generally regarded as his first speech on the issue as a national political figure。

The economy remains the top issue on the mind of Americans, and top White House aides acknowledge that many are not seeing first-hand the benefits of steady but slow growth — which may explain the president’s poor ratings on the economy。

Obama himself told supporters late Monday that he doesn’t think the speech “is going to change any minds。” But politicians of both parties are mindful that the 2014 midterm elections are just around the corner。

The Republican response to Obama’s planned speech has been instructive. After initially scoffing that the White House was cooking up a “nothingburger,” they have aggressively tried to set the debate on their terms。

So how does a speech like this come into being?

Keenan formally got the assignment in early June when senior Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer wandered into the speechwriter’s office and announced that the president had decided he wanted to return to Knox College to deliver an economic policy address in mid-July。

“It was just kind of a question of when we would go back, and now seemed as good a time as any,” the speechwriter said。

So Keenan booked an Oval Office meeting with Obama at 10:30 a.m. on June 14 to discuss the themes and structure of the address. Pfeiffer, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Nabors also took part. So did Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri and Deputy Chief of Staff Alyssa Mastromonaco。

“I’ll just ask for some time with the president to get what I call ‘The Download.’ And I’ll just take my laptop in there and let him talk for 20 or 30 minutes while I just furiously take notes,” Keenan says. “He’ll give you the basic structure to go on。”

Keenan emerged with “with three or four pages of unfiltered POTUS,” he said, using the popular D.C. acronym for “President of the United States。” After doing some research (and being especially productive while much of the staff was with Obama in Africa)， he put together a 20-page outline, which turned into a first draft that landed on the president’s desk July 14.

Keenan opened a folder labeled “Presidential Statement,” pulling out four pages of cramped but tidy notes in black pen on yellow legal pad paper — Obama’s copious edits. With a wry smile, he held up page 4 of that early version, entirely crossed out by the president。

“He’ll kind of destroy the first draft a little bit,” Keenan said. “I saw his point. His argument here was just ‘too long.’” So RIP, page 4.

The drafts — Obama has seen six — “get tidier and tidier,” and Wednesday’s speech is pretty much done, “which is great 24 hours out。”

Keenan has been discussing the changes with the president “during his lunchtime” for about 10 minutes, then working to turn around another draft overnight。

What if he disagrees with a presidential edit? How do you tell the most powerful man in the world that he's wrong about what he should say?

“At this point, you know, I don’t push back aggressively, but I can argue pretty well for a point. I’d say the first couple of years I wouldn’t dare to do that。”

Does he ever win those kinds of debates?

“Rarely. And when you do, he never lets you forget that you made him take out something he liked,” Keenan said with a chuckle. “But it’s rare。”

Keenan has a team of four domestic policy writers helping out, but Obama’s top economic advisers see every draft. They include Alan Krueger, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers; Gene Sperling, head of the National Economic Council; and Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Burwell。

“But it’s mostly a back-and-forth between me and him,” he said, meaning Obama。

The days start at 7:45 a.m. (that’s when McDonough holds a regular meeting in his office)， and for the past two weeks they’ve ended between midnight and 2 a.m。

Asked how quickly he plans to chase the coffee with the Red Bull, Keenan replied “that’s for later,” when he needs a boost around 10-11 p.m. His most productive hours, he said, are between 7 p.m. and 2 a.m., when the flood of emails thins to a trickle and there are fewer people, if any, popping into his office。

No, he doesn’t get presidential voice mails at 3 a.m. “He is a night owl, though,” Keenan said. And “I’m not a morning guy。”

Keenan's office walls are covered with mementos, including a Ted Kennedy poster inscribed with a note from the late senator, for whom Keenan used to work. Guests can also spot a photograph of Keenan, dressed as a pirate, talking with Obama. The picture, autographed by the president, was part of Obama’s jokey speech to the 2009 White House Correspondents Dinner。

In a room packed with souvenirs that would make a political junkie drool, what's his favorite? A White House gift shop football signed by members of the 1985 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears. The space shuttle Challenger tragedy sidetracked their trip to the White House. So Obama invited them to visit in October 2011.

"You try to act pretty cool when important people come around the White House. This was the one day I just threw it out the window," Keenan said。

"Ditka was just the nicest guy," he added. "Mike Ditka could have prevented Barack Obama from becoming president, because he almost ran against him in '04, in Illinois, and he might have won."

據(jù)美國(guó)媒體報(bào)道，奧巴馬總統(tǒng)7月24日將發(fā)表經(jīng)濟(jì)政策講演，這是他六篇講演的第一篇，這些講演里，奧巴馬將談?wù)摻逃?、住房、退休保障、醫(yī)療健康、貧困與就業(yè)多方面的問(wèn)題，這可能是奧巴馬在第二任期影響最深遠(yuǎn)的演講，奧巴馬期待借此獲得美國(guó)民眾對(duì)他計(jì)劃的支持。

那么，這些講演稿是怎么寫(xiě)成的呢?

為他撰寫(xiě)這些演講稿的是科迪·基南。年僅32歲的他已經(jīng)擁有總統(tǒng)講演主撰稿人的高級(jí)頭銜。他向我們揭示了總統(tǒng)主要講演稿撰寫(xiě)過(guò)程的內(nèi)幕，以及如果你與總統(tǒng)辯論他的講演詞——而且獲勝之后，會(huì)發(fā)生什么。

基南是在六月初得到這個(gè)任務(wù)的，當(dāng)時(shí)，奧巴馬的資深顧問(wèn)法伊弗走進(jìn)這位講演撰稿人的辦公室，宣布總統(tǒng)決定在7月中旬回諾克斯學(xué)院做一篇經(jīng)濟(jì)政策演講。身為美國(guó)總統(tǒng)撰稿人，基南的辦公室不過(guò)是間地下室。位于白宮西側(cè)的這個(gè)地下室沒(méi)有窗子，總統(tǒng)來(lái)訪時(shí)頭能蹭到低矮的天花板。

基南與奧巴馬約定6月14日上午10:30在白宮的橢圓形總統(tǒng)辦公室會(huì)面，共同討論這篇講演的主題和結(jié)構(gòu)。

“我會(huì)只帶著我的筆記本電腦去，讓他講個(gè)二三十分鐘，而我只是拼命記錄，”基南說(shuō)。 “ 他會(huì)告訴你基本結(jié)構(gòu)。”

基南整理了“三到四頁(yè)未經(jīng)過(guò)濾的總統(tǒng)原話”。做過(guò)更多調(diào)查后，他完成了一份20頁(yè)的大綱，由此寫(xiě)成的第一份草稿在7月14日放到了總統(tǒng)的辦公桌上。

基南打開(kāi)一個(gè)標(biāo)有“總統(tǒng)聲明”的文件夾，抽出四頁(yè)紙，上面是緊湊整齊的文字，用黑色墨水筆寫(xiě)在黃色便簽紙上，奧巴馬在上面做過(guò)多處修改?；峡嘈α艘幌?，舉起早期底稿的第四頁(yè)，總統(tǒng)刪除了上面全部的話。

“第一稿有些部分會(huì)被他徹底否決，”基南說(shuō)。“我看到了他的觀點(diǎn)。他在此處的意見(jiàn)只有一個(gè) ，‘太長(zhǎng)’”，所以撕掉第四頁(yè)。

草稿——記住，奧巴馬一共有六份——“變得越來(lái)越有條理”，7月24日的演講稿已經(jīng)基本完成，“演講距現(xiàn)在只剩24個(gè)小時(shí)了”。

在總統(tǒng)的午餐時(shí)間，基南與他用十分鐘討論了改動(dòng)的部分，他隨后連夜整理出另一份草稿。

如果他不同意總統(tǒng)的修改怎么辦?你怎么對(duì)全世界最有權(quán)力的人說(shuō)，他認(rèn)為他該說(shuō)什么的看法是錯(cuò)的?

“在這樣的時(shí)候，你知道，我不會(huì)激烈地反駁，但我可以很好地說(shuō)明我的觀點(diǎn)。我得說(shuō)，我在最初幾年可不敢這么做。”

在這樣的爭(zhēng)論中他贏過(guò)嗎?

“很少。但當(dāng)你贏了，他從來(lái)不會(huì)讓你忘記，你讓他放棄了他喜歡的觀點(diǎn)，”基南輕聲笑了。“但很少有這樣的時(shí)候。”

基南有一支四人團(tuán)隊(duì)幫他撰寫(xiě)國(guó)內(nèi)政策的部分，但奧巴馬的首席經(jīng)濟(jì)顧問(wèn)們會(huì)親自審閱每篇草稿。這些人中包括經(jīng)濟(jì)顧問(wèn)委員會(huì)主席克魯格、國(guó)家經(jīng)濟(jì)委員會(huì)主席斯珀林、還有行政管理和預(yù)算局局長(zhǎng)伯韋爾。

“但主要是我和他交換意見(jiàn)，”基南說(shuō)，這里的他指奧巴馬。

一天的工作從早上7:45開(kāi)始，過(guò)去兩周，他們要到午夜或凌晨2點(diǎn)才結(jié)束工作。

他最多產(chǎn)的時(shí)間是晚7點(diǎn)到凌晨2點(diǎn)，這時(shí)候郵件少了，也沒(méi)有幾個(gè)人在此時(shí)拜訪他的辦公室。

他不會(huì)在凌晨3點(diǎn)收到總統(tǒng)的語(yǔ)音郵件。“他是個(gè)夜貓子，”基南說(shuō)。“我也不是個(gè)愛(ài)早起的人。”