Obama's speechwriter: from intern to top wordsmith

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In this Jan. 8, 2011 photo provided by the White House, from left, senior advisor David Axelrod, speechwriter Cody Keenan, and chief White House speechwriter Jon Favreau, work on President Barack Obama's statement concerning the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others in Tucson, Ariz., at the White House in Washington. When Obama needed a new head speechwriter, he turned to Keenan, a 32-year-old fellow Chicagoan. Favreau, who left in March 2013 after five years as the president's lead wordsmith, brought Keenan into Obama's orbit in the first place, as an unpaid summer intern in 2007. (AP Photo/The White House, Pete Souza)

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Obama's speechwr... In this Jan. 8, 2011 photo provided by the White House, from left, senior advisor David Axelrod, speechwriter Cody Keenan, and chief White House speechwriter Jon Favreau, work on President Barack Obama's statement concerning the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others in Tucson, Ariz., at the White House in Washington. When Obama needed a new head speechwriter, he turned to Keenan, a 32-year-old fellow Chicagoan. Favreau, who left in March 2013 after five years as the president's lead wordsmith, brought Keenan into Obama's orbit in the first place, as an unpaid summer intern in 2007. (AP Photo/The White House, Pete Souza)
Kerry makes 1st ... US Secretary of State John Kerry meets with South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Saturday May 25, 2013. Making his first official trip to sub-Saharan Africa, Kerry on Saturday demanded that Nigeria respect human rights as it cracks down on Islamist extremists and pledged to work hard in the coming months to ease tensions between Sudan and South Sudan. (AP Photo/Jim Young, pool)
Obama's drone ru... FILE - In this May 23, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama talks about national security, at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington. The president left plenty of ambiguity in new policy guidelines that he says will restrict how and when the U.S. can launch targeted drone strikes, leaving himself vast power over how and when the weapons can be deployed. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
Hagel: Cadets mu... Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrives for a graduation and commissioning ceremony at the U.S. Military Academy, Saturday, May 25, 2013, in West Point, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
Obama sees terro... FILE – In this May 23, 2013, file photo President Barack Obama is seen at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington during a speech in which he sought to refine and recalibrate his counterterrorism strategy, and asserted that al-Qaida is "on the path to defeat." Some call it wishful thinking, but Obama has all but declared an end to the global war on terror. He is not claiming final victory over extremists who still seek to kill Americans and other Westerners, but he is steering the country away from what he calls an equally frightening threat: a country in a state of perpetual war. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Community outrea... FILE - In this April 26, 2013, file photo police officers stand by as Muslims leave the Islamic Society of Boston mosque in Cambridge, Mass., which was attended occasionally by Tamerlan Tsarnaev for Friday prayers, according to Islamic Society of Boston leaders. Within hours of the blasts at the Boston marathon, government officials and members of Boston’s Muslim community called each other, offering assistance. Representatives from the Justice and Homeland Security departments offered support to Muslim communities in case they suffered backlash or threats, though it would be days before law enforcement connected the suspected bombers to a violent interpretation of Islam. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
Key senators tig... FILE - In this March 18, 2013, file photo, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, holds a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee about immigrant women and immigration reform on Capitol Hill in Washington. For all the soothing words she heard from fellow Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hirono never had a chance to win a relatively modest change to far-reaching immigration legislation. Instead, the hidden hand of the bipartisan Gang of Eight reached out and rejected her attempt to create an immigration preference for close relatives of citizens with an extreme hardship _ the same force that had already derailed dozens other proposals deemed to violate the delicate trade-offs made by the bill’s bipartisan authors. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
Improving econom... FILE - In this May 15, 2013, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks on the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups for extra tax scrutiny in the East Room of the White House in Washington. The economy is clearly, if slowly, recovering on Obama’s watch and robbing Republicans of a central argument against Democrats. But the alleged misbehavior by the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies is giving the GOP something else to talk about and investigate. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
Obama says natio... Fir Grove Elementary School fourth grader Brayden Corey, right, and grandmother Gayle Thomas of Roseburg, Ore. share a moment at the grave of Jackie Thomas, Brayden's grandfather and Gayle's husband at the Roseburg National Cemetery, Friday, May 24, 2013. Jackie Thomas served in the Marine Corps and died in 2010. Brayden Corey was at the cemetery to join classmates from Fir Grove Elementary School placing flags at headstones. (AP Photos/The News-Review, Michael Sullivan)
Furlough Friday:... FILE - This March 22, 2013 file photo shows the exterior of the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. No one answered the phone at the IRS hotline for tax help. Forget about advice on avoiding foreclosures at one of the Housing and Urban Development offices nationwide. Roughly five percent of the federal workforce _ 115,000 people at six government agencies _ got an unpaid day off on Friday due to the automatic cuts to the government budget. The furloughs forced some agencies such as the IRS and HUD to drastically scale back operations. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Obama OKs honor ... President Barack Obama signs a bill designating the Congressional Gold Medal commemorating the lives of the four young girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing of 1963, Friday, May 24, 2013, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. From left are, Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala. sponsor of the bill; Lisa McNair; Thelma "Maxine" Pippen McNair mother of Denise McNair; Dianne Braddock sister of Carole Robertson; and Rev. Arthur Price Jr., pastor of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Obama: Sexual as... Members of the 2013 graduating class of the United States Naval Academy throw their caps into the air marking the end of their commencement ceremony in Annapolis, Md,. Friday, May 24, 2013, where President Barack Obama spoke. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
What's a drone? ... FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2010 file photo, an unmanned U.S. Predator drone flies over Kandahar Air Field, southern Afghanistan, on a moon-lit night. An American citizen killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan in 2011 was arrested by Pakistani authorities three years earlier but escaped after being released on bail, officials said Thursday, May 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
Some unions now ... FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2009, file photo President Barack Obama speaks at the AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic at Coney Island in Cincinnati. Some labor unions that initially backed Obama's health care overhaul are now frustrated and angry about what they say are unexpected consequences of the plan that could hurt their members. (AP Photo/David Kohl, File)
IRS replaces off... In this May 22, 2013, photo, Lois Lerner listens on Capitol Hill in Washington. A day after she refused to answer questions at a congressional hearing, Lerner has been replaced as director the Internal Revenue Service division that oversaw agents who targeted tea party groups. Danny Werfel, the agency's new acting commissioner, told IRS employees in an email Thursday, May 23, 2013, that he has selected a new acting head of the division, staying within the IRS to find new leadership. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Kerry blasts Ira... U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, Israel, Thursday, May 23, 2013. The US and Israel raised hopes Thursday for a restart of the Middle East peace process, despite little tangible progress so far from Kerry's two-month-old effort to get Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. (AP Photo/Jim Young, Pool)
Kerry's focus on... U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, Israel, Thursday, May 23, 2013. The US and Israel raised hopes Thursday for a restart of the Middle East peace process, despite little tangible progress so far from Kerry's two-month-old effort to get Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. (AP Photo/Jim Young, Pool)
Tea party vs. ol... FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2013, file photo, Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., right, questions Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The committee's ranking Republican Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla. listens at left. A long-simmering feud in the Senate between establishment Republicans and tea partyers breaks into full view, with McCain accusing younger colleagues of overplaying their hands and tempting Democrats to change Senate rules that protect the minority party. How to deal with the budget and debt become the latest quarrel in a string of them between McCain _ sometimes joined by other traditionalist Republicans _ and brash, tea party-champions such as Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Obama balances t... President Barack Obama pauses as his speech is interrupted by CODEPINK founder Medea Benjamin, Thursday, May 23, 2013, at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington. CODEPINK is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end U.S. funded wars and occupations, to challenge militarism globally, and to redirect our resources into health care, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
GOP's Walker tou... Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker delivers an address at a fundraising event for the Iowa GOP on Thursday, May 23, 2013 at the Sheraton Hotel in West Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/The Des Moines Register, Charlie Litchfield)
Milestones for G... FILE - In this July 16, 2009 file photo, reviewed by the U.S. military, flags hang above the sign marking the Camp Justice compound, the site of the U.S. war crimes tribunal, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba. President Barack Obama's speech national security speech Thursday is expected to reaffirm his national security priorities _ from homegrown terrorists to killer drones to the enemy combatants held at the military-run detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba _ but make no new sweeping policy announcements. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)
Maine governor m... In this April 18, 2013 photo, Maine Gov. Paul LePage smiles during a ceremony at the Blaine House in Augusta, Maine. Maine Democratic legislative leaders say Gov. Paul LePage is threatening to move his office space out of the State House by July 1. LePage's decision stems from a disagreement over a television screen in the State House hall of flags outside LePage's office. LePage on Thursday, May 23, 2013 accused Democrats of a pattern of "toxic" censorship, noting that Democrats declined to let him speak at a recent budget committee meeting. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach)
Obama sees narro... President Barack Obama continues to speaks about national security, Thursday, May 23, 2013, at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, as CODEPINK founder Medea Benjamin of Code Pink shouted at him from the back of the auditorium. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
U.S. names veter... U.S. ENVOY TO THE AFGHAN OPPOSITION JAMES DOBBINS TALKS TO THE PRESS IN ROME.
Obama tells Mexi... U.S. President Obama delivers a speech during his visit to Mexico City
Obama blesses Me... U.S. President Obama alights from Air Force One as he begins his visit to Mexico City
Arizona governor... Arizona Governor Jan Brewer addresses the media about the Supreme Court's decision on SB1070 in Phoenix.
Rhode Island law... Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee uncaps his pen as he signs the Marriage Equality Act into law at the State House in Provide
Jury convicts tw... New York City Comptroller John Liu speaks in support of a demonstration against the NYPD's "stop and frisk" crime-fighting tacti
NRA to meet in T... Man rides down an escalator at the George R. Brown Convention Center, ahead of the National Rifle Association's annual meeting i
Florida lawmaker... Florida Governor Scott greets an attendee in the audience before the start of the final U.S. presidential debate in Boca Raton
BlackBerry devic... A new Blackberry Z10 smartphone is displayed at a store in New York
Analysis: Doubli... U.S. President Barack Obama nominates Pritzker and Froman at White House in Washington
Bloomberg makes ... New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivers the 2014 city budget in the Blue Room of New York's City Hall
States balk at m... President Obama's fiscal 2014 budget proposal is released and distributed to Senate staff members on Capitol Hill in Washington
Kerry to raise c... U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers a statement after a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani Army Ch
Maryland becomes... Maryland Governor O'Malley addresses the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte
Personality-driv... Democrat Colbert Busch makes a point during the South Carolina 1st Congressional district debate with former South Carolina Gove
Lawmakers call f... An aerial view shows the aftermath of a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant in the town of West, near Waco, Texas
Obama rounds out... U.S. President Barack Obama announces new nominees at the White House in Washington
Lawyers plot gam... A computer screen displays an online gambling website
Illinois Senate ... Chicago Mayor Emanuel smiles while attending U.S. President Obama's election night rally in Chicago
Obama quietly si... U.S. President Barack Obama is pictured as first lady Michelle Obama (not pictured) speaks during an event on finding employment
In Obama's jargo... U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington
Obama considers ... U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to the media in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington
Obama taps ally,... U.S. President Obama announces Watt as his nominee for director of the FHFA and Wheeler to head FCC, in Washington
Fierce lobbying ... Men transport humanitarian food aid onto pirogues at Mopti
Obama won't rush... A man searches for survivors from the rubble of a damaged area in Al-Sukkari neighborhood in Aleppo