Alumni Chapter. Zinya Salfiti/The Daily Northwestern. As the Director of Speechwriting for President Barack Obama, Significant Sig Cody Keenan, NORTHWESTERN 2002, helped craft Obama’s remarks for a variety of audiences from a Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech to State of the Union addresses, a sermon in Selma, Alabama to a variety of messages in packed arenas and stadiums. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.This website uses cookies to improve your experience.
He’s out campaigning everywhere. Cody Keenan wrote speeches with President Barack Obama for more than a decade.
I was fortunate enough to go to Horizons after my sophomore year, which changed the way I thought about myself in a lot of ways. He also spends his Mondays as a visiting professor in Northwestern’s Political Science department where he teaches a professional linkage seminar on speechwriting.Keenan said he was inspired to create the speechwriting class, so his students could graduate with marketable skills and a portfolio that could land them a job, something he lacked when he graduated.“I didn’t even know I wanted to be a speechwriter until I had a chance to write a speech in 2005 (for Kennedy), three full years after graduation,” Keenan said. Cody Keenan, former President Barack Obama’s speechwriter since 2007, spoke to an audience of around 300 in Lutkin Hall. I think the first time I met him was maybe the second day on the job in January of 2009.
To be a successful speechwriter is to help leaders in any industry move audiences, win the battle of ideas and, ultimately, change the world.Suited to a class that dissects every aspect of speechwriting, from inspiration and research to fact-checking and final flourish, Keenan assigns a wide range of essential speeches to illuminate leaders of every era and political stripe. But to actively and proactively teach undergraduates that skill I think is really important.”“I was scared and, you know, in retrospect, I can’t believe I actually did it.
You know, students of above average ability, ambitious, honorable, have a sense of personal responsibility to them. But I remember growing that week. These cookies do not store any personal information.Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. And one of the things I tell them is it’s so hard to look forward when you’re in college, right? Educated at Northwestern University and Harvard University, Keenan’s passion for public service was sharpened as a young aide to the legendary Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Cody Keenan is a speechwriter, and the former Director of Speechwriting for President Barack Obama. Cody Keenan, Northwestern Political Science ´02, has written speeches with President Barack Obama for more than a decade, rising from a campaign intern in Chicago to Director of Speechwriting at the White House. Cody Keenan '02 Speechwriter for President Barack Obama The message to the brand-new graduates was clear: The time is now. I’ve seen your name on speeches for the last couple of years and I’ve never actually gotten to hang out with you.’ We bonded a little bit over — we’re both Chicagoans, I’m a north side Cubs fan, he’s a south side Sox fan. “The impetus was to help people realize that changing or not knowing all the way through senior year is okay because you’ll find something.”Medill junior and Northwestern College Democrats PR director Cameron Peters said he appreciated Keenan’s discussion about how current candidates have resorted to repetitive soundbytes intended to go viral on Twitter in lieu of traditional speeches.Peters was fascinated to learn that few 2020 Democratic candidates have full-time speechwriters, whereas in Keenan’s time on the Obama campaign, there were at least three on hand.“The candidate that’s going to win is the one that does the best job coalescing their worldview, why they’re running, and why their presidency will make a difference,” Peters said. There is no great writing, he notes in the syllabus, only great rewriting. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. But I didn’t have any intention of doing it, you know.
‘I blacked out.’ But we developed a good working relationship over time and I still work for him 12 years later.”“Sure. So the first time I met him was almost two years later in the White House. Through times of challenge and change, Keenan helped President Obama craft remarks on every topic for every audience – from tiny backyards in Iowa to the biggest stadiums in the country; from a sermon in Selma to his farewell address. “(Keenan) was spot-on about the value of those longer speeches and the value of ideas broadly stated over a moment of virality.After the event, Keenan talked about how students on campus are paralyzed by the future, constantly stressing about job prospects, pre-professional career tracks and how many majors they can squeeze into their course load.He emphasized that students need to ease up on occupying all of their free time with activities they think will look good on a job application and instead pursue things they actually find enjoyable.“What I want people to realize is that your first job does not determine the course of your entire career — you do,” Keenan told The Daily. Obama speechwriter Cody Keenan ’02 encourages the Class of 2018 to stay hopeful and engaged, no matter the path they pursue. Alumnus and Obama speechwriter Cody Keenan teaches the art of political rhetoricNorthwestern alumnus Cody Keenan returned to campus this fall to teach a class and share his worldly wisdom as a professional speechwriter who has written or edited more than 2,000 speeches for his boss, former President Barack Obama.Of those many speeches, Keenan’s favorite goes back to March 2015 when "'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' Um, but one of the things that we did, and the guys that I gravitated to, was we pushed each other constantly to be a better version of ourselves.
A lot of them are just to try to move the ball forward on a particular issue, bit by bit.
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