In Confidence

I did not vote for President Obama. At the current rate of things, my disapproval will again be voiced at the ballot box in two years,  just as I suspect many Members of Congress will endure an expression of collective disapproval in the 2010 election.

That said - I am a loyal American. If the President called tonight and asked me to meet him at the White House at Noon tomorrow, I will be knocking on the door at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue at 11:00 AM - latest. And if, while there, he asks me to draft a speech, he will get the best of which I am capable.

So, it is no surprise that Mort Zuckerman, a news media mogul who has no doubt had occasion to consult with several Presidents, and obviously had great hopes for the performance of this one, would lend his services to this President.

However, if so called upon, the President may also depend on my confidence. That is obviously not the case with Mr. Zuckerman.

Here is the transcript of this exchange with interviewer Neil Cavuto on Fox news this summer:
MZ: “Well, I voted for Obama, I helped write one of his speeches, we endorsed Obama ...”
NC: “Which speech?”
MZ: “Uh, uh, I’d rather not go into that for the moment.”
NC: “Did it get a lot of applause?”
MZ: “Not, not from the people I hoped it would.”

No one believes the President writes his own speeches. It was actually something of a minor scandal when it was first revealed the second President Roosevelt employed a speech writer, but we have come to accept the obvious. Simply put - a President’s time is far too valuable, to spend writing speeches.

The same can be said of most busy executives. Were I such an executive, even given my own facility with the speech writing process, someone else would be doing the writing and I would have a hand in the fine-tuning.

But there is a certain expectation of confidence that the President, or anyone else for whom the speechwriter is working, absolutely deserves. I think that expectation was not met in this case.

And as a personal note to Mort Zuckerman - from one speechwriter to another. It’s never a good idea to publicly embarrass the President of the United States.

From The Bully Pulpit - Tom

I Agree To This Constitution

Speech By: Benjamin Franklin -
delivered on his behalf by James Wilson

Title: I agree to this Constitution

Date: September 17, 1787

Location: Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA

Occasion: Signing of the Constitution

Analysis:
It is a short address, but even given its brevity, Franklin was too weak to deliver it himself on the final day of the Constitutional Convention. James Wilson, a fellow Pennsylvanian, did the honors on his behalf.

A troubling misgiving confronted the 39 delegates that day. Whether or not the divisions and debates and differences that produced the document before them, could also produce a nation, was a question very much in doubt. Still, in Franklin’s mind, it was better than nothing. But, as befit the author of Poor Richard’s Almanack, that sentiment needed to be related far more elegantly. It was.

He begins by referring to the various doubts about the document that all the framers held: “I confess that there are several parts of this constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them:”

Then he speaks of the wisdom of age: “It is therefore that the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others.” We may all be wrong about the positions we hold most strongly, he is telling them - do not be so sure of yourself.

He then speaks of the joint wisdom possessed by the individual members of their august body. But, he also warns this means there are joint prejudices, passions, errors of opinion, local interests, and selfish views to consider as well.

Finally, he gets to the heart of the matter: “Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best.”

In concluding, he does what many good speeches do, he sums up his salient points with a call for joint action: “On the whole, Sir, I can not help expressing a wish that every member of the Convention who may still have objections to it, would with me, on this occasion doubt a little of his own infallibility, and to make manifest our unanimity, put his name to this instrument.”

They went on then, Franklin, and the 38 other delegates who heard his call, to place their names on the document they had labored through a hot Philadelphia summer to craft.

On this, the 223rd anniversary of the signing of that document which truly made this a nation, it is wise to ask - could we do as well today? In the end, that document about which Franklin, and so many others, had such troubling doubts, is what has allowed our nation itself to grow old.

Length (words): 720

Text Posted: U.S. Constitution Online

From The Bully Pulpit - Tom