This was from the president ial ideas festival hosted by the university of virginias miller center. We appreciate you coming, we have some other panels going on at the same time, we will try to make it worth your while. Today we are really lucky, i am a former speechwriter for president obama. We are also really lucky to have sarah and john. Jeff who works for resident click and was supposed to be here but he had a conflict that kept him in d. C. We have some questions for these two, and then we will take any questions you have. If theres anything we hope you take away from this session, being a president ial speechwriter is exactly like you think it would be on the west wing. [laughter] im just kidding, it is much cooler. [laughter] i will start with questions about the relationship between ideas and speeches. Sometimes what starts as an idea and ends up as in a speech, sometimes the process starts before you have the idea. Im curious him how does an idea become a speech . In a weird
That led to drafting the constitution. I want to talk about that. Lasttried to communicate week, the drafting of our institution, the history of its formation is extraordinary to say the least. Moment in allle of world history. We are here at 233 years later and our constitution is in the daily, being referred to as we almost speak here tonight, again and again. It isrticular aspect, but alive and well. To think about the fact this came together from a period of midmay until midseptember of 1787 is remarkable. Said the that we revolutionary war, and a lot of folks are not clear on the sequencing. It is important to note conflict began with lexington and concord and massachusetts in 1774. These very independent colonies, british colonies that operated with their own governments and their own leadership and support , suddenly had to come together and form a military alliance. It was not easy for them to do that. They had a lot of hesitation and concern about what it meant to be together.
Constitution. I want to just recap that quickly tonight as we start. As i tried to communicate last week, the drafting of our constitution, the history of its formation, is extraordinary to say the least. It is a remarkable moment in all of world history. We are here at 233 years later and our constitution is in the news daily, being referred to as we almost speak here tonight, again and again. In reference to one particular aspect of the constitution, but again, it is alive and well. To think about the fact this came together from a period of midmay until midseptember of 1787 is remarkable. We recall from last week that we said the revolutionary war, and a lot of folks are not clear on the sequencing. It is important to know that conflict began with lexington and concord and massachusetts in 1774. These very independent colonies, british colonies that operated with their own governments and their own leadership and so forth, suddenly had to come together and form a military alliance.
My hope is to use about half of the time to talk about questions ive got for these two, then spend the other half taking questions that you have. If theres one thing i hope you take from this whole session, it is that being a president ial speechwriter is exactly what you would think it would be on the west wing. Thats it. Im kidding, it is much more like veep. Since this is the president ial ideas festival, i will start with a question about the relationship between ideas and speeches. Sometimes what starts off as an idea ends up in a speech, sometimes the speechwriting process starts before you have the idea. Just curious, sarah, what do you think, what would you share about that process, how an idea becomes a speech. I think in a weird way as speechwriters, we are not coming up with the ideas. There are much smarter people in the building that are developing those ideas. But in a way i think that these ideas kind of they dont get crystallized until theyre litigated on the page. So a
Additional funding is provided by. E corpornding is provided by. L ken starr, welcome to firie. Thank you, margaret. Youve been involved in both impeachments in this countrys modern history. In the 1990s, you led the probe that investigated bill clinton and ultimately recomnded grounds for impeachment. And then, you were alsoen most ry involved as defense counsel in president trumps impeachment trial. True . [ chuckles ] te . True. True . I wou quibble a little bit with the description in the clinton impeachment because i was serving independent counsel, so its such a different role. Do you think its fair to say that you were involved in the impeachment, though . I was invold in the impeachment, yeah. Okay. You got me. Great crossexamination. I want to make sure the introduction to the progm is accurate. How is it yocame to involved as a defense attorney for president trumps impeachment . The president called me and asked me to be involved. And then i made it very clear that i could no