Obama's Speechwriter On The Power Of Presidential Rhetoric
The NPR Politics Podcast
NPR
4.4 • 25.7K Ratings
🗓️ 15 September 2022
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
He's the author of a new book, Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America.
This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. |
| 0:06.6 | I'm Tamara Keith. |
| 0:07.6 | Today, we're doing something a little different, going back in time to June 2015, and a 10-day |
| 0:14.3 | period that started with the racist mass shooting at the Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, |
| 0:20.2 | South Carolina. |
| 0:21.2 | The parishioners of Emanuel AME Church, a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, |
| 0:26.6 | a hold of vigil in memory of the nine lives lost when a young white man who was taking |
| 0:31.6 | part in their prayer group last night, gunned them down, punctuated by two supreme court decisions, |
| 0:37.4 | preserving Obamacare and affirming the right to same-sex marriage in the United States, |
| 0:42.4 | and ended with then-President Obama delivering a eulogy for the pastor and the eight worshippers |
| 0:47.9 | shot to death at a Bible study. |
| 0:50.4 | It ended with the President of the United States singing Amazing Grace. |
| 0:55.0 | Amazing Grace. |
| 1:00.5 | Amazing Grace. |
| 1:04.5 | Amazing Grace. |
| 1:18.6 | Amazing Grace. |
| 1:43.8 | I didn't know what was going to happen. |
| 1:45.4 | There were about six people in the world who did. |
| 1:47.6 | He stood up on Marine one that morning and looked down and said, you know, if it feels |
| 1:50.8 | right, I might sing it. |
| 1:52.4 | That voice is Cody Keenan. |
| 1:54.1 | He wrote the eulogy in collaboration with Obama, who he says added the lyrics of Amazing Grace |
... |
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