Jonathan Favreau: A Man behind the Applause

Sumber:zacparsons.com

Jonathan Favreau, born June 2, 1981 is a Director of Speechwriting for President Barack Obama.  He graduated as Valedictorian from College of the Holy Cross. In college, he accumulated a variety of scholastic honors, and took part in and directed numerous community and civic programs. At the College of the Holy Cross, he was treasurer and debate committee chairman for the College Democrats, and studied classical piano. After graduation, he went to work for the John Kerry Presidential campaign in 2004, working to collect talk radio news for the campaign, and eventually was promoted to the role of Deputy Speechwriter. While working for the Kerry campaign, he first met Barack Obama. 

In 2005, Robert Gibbs recommended Favreau to Obama as an excellent speechwriter. Favreau was hired as Obama's speechwriter shortly after Obama's election to the United States Senate. Obama and Favreau grew close, and Obama has referred to him as his "mind reader." He went on the campaign trail with Obama during his successful Presidential election campaign. In 2009, he was named as a White House staff member  as Director of Speechwriting. He became the second youngest chief White House speechwriter on record after James Fallows. 

Favs, his nick name, has many organization experiences since he was a stundent college. From 1999 to 2000, he served on the Welfare Solidarity Project, eventually becoming its director. In 2001, Favreau worked with Habitat for Humanity and a University of Massachusetts program to bring visitors to cancer patients. In 2002, he became head of an initiative to help unemployed individuals improve their resumes and interview skills. He also earned a variety of honors in college, including the Vanicelli Award; being named the 2001 Charles A. Dana Scholar; memberships in the Political Science Honor Society, Pi Sigma Alpha, the College Honors Program, the Sociology Honor Society, Alpha Kappa Delta, and was awarded a Harry S. Truman Scholarship in 2002. He was an editor on his college newspaper, and during summers in college, he earned extra income selling newspapers as a telemarketer, while also interning in John Kerry's offices.

He directly joined Senator John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign soon after graduation from the College of the Holy Cross. While working for the Kerry campaign, his job was to assemble audio clips of talk radio programs for the Kerry camp to review for the next day. When the Kerry campaign began to falter at one point, they found themselves without a speechwriter, and Favreau was promoted to the role of deputy speechwriter.

Favreau first met Obama (then an Illinois State Senator running for the U.S. Senate), while still working for Kerry, backstage at the 2004 Democratic National Convention as Obama was rehearsing his keynote address. Favreau, then 23 years old, interrupted Obama's rehearsal, advising the soon-to-be-elected Senator that a rewrite was needed.

Obama communications aide Robert Gibbs, who had worked for Kerry's campaign, recommended Favreau to Obama as an excellent writer, and in 2005 he began working for Barack Obama in his United States Senate office, before joining Obama's presidential campaign as chief speechwriter in 2007. His interview with Obama was on the Senator's first day. Uninterested in Favreau's résumé, Obama instead questioned Favreau on what motivated him to work in politics, and what his theory of writing was. He described this theory to Obama as, "A speech can broaden the circle of people who care about this stuff. How do you say to the average person that's been hurting: 'I hear you, I'm there?' Even though you've been so disappointed and cynical about politics in the past, and with good reason, we can move in the right direction. Just give me a chance."

For his work with Obama in the campaign, he would wake as early as 5 am, and routinely stayed up until 3 am working on speeches. His leadership style among the other Obama speechwriters is very informal. They will often meet in a small conference room, discussing their work late into the evening over take-out food. According to him, "My biggest strength isn't the organization thing." He is credited with popularizing the catchphrase, "Yes We Can", which was the slogan of Obama's 2004 Illinois Senate campaign. He has spent the last two months working for up to 16 hours a day on the speech in locations all over Washington, from the Penn Quarter Starbucks to his new, still-unfurnished apartment in the city’s upmarket Dupont Circle. He sits with Obama for 30 minutes at a time and writes down everything the president says. Then, he sits down and writes, gets edits from Obama and writes some more. A team of assistants are on hand to furnish him with material, from research on key moments of crisis in American history to the collected speeches of former presidents.

Favreau has been named one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" by Time magazine. He ranked 33rd in the GQ "50 Most Powerful in D.C." and featured in the Vanity Fair "Next Establishment" list. Favreau was also one of several Obama administration members in the 2009 "World's Most Beautiful People" issue of People magazine.

Favreau has said his work with Obama will be his final job in the realm of politics. In regard to his post-political future, he said, "Maybe I'll write a screenplay, or maybe a fiction book based loosely on what all of this was like. You had a bunch of kids working on this campaign together, and it was such a mix of the serious and momentous and just the silly ways that we are. For people in my generation, it was an unbelievable way to grow up.”

So, if Obama has a plan to visit Indonesia next years during his position as a US President, maybe Indonesian people will not hear Obama said, “Pulang kampung, nih!” again.

Sumber: Soewarna Digest 12^th Edition