Former President Obama’s speechwriter says he is “preventively frustrated” by President Biden’s efforts to find unity with Republicans.
What they are saying: Cody Keenan told Axios that Biden’s messaging team “hit all the right chords”, but at some point “they will have to answer questions like, ‘Why didn’t you reach unity?’ when there is an entire political party that is already acting to prevent it. “
Keenan spent 14 years writing for Obama, including working alongside Biden for eight of those years. He acknowledged being embittered by his own experience, especially after Senator Mitch McConnell promised to make his former boss a president for a term.
- “Until the Republican Party comes forward and tells its own voters what is really going on with the truth, it will be difficult,” said Keenan. “It is not up to (President Biden) to do it alone. He cannot.”
Keenan helped Obama with the first volume of his memoirs, “A Promised Land”. It stopped working with the ex-president on New Year’s Eve and took up a full-time position at Fenway Strategies. The company is run by former Obama administration officials.
- “It felt like a natural place after the book and the elections and, you know, [Obama] is not going to do much, especially with Biden in office, “said Keenan.
Keenan is also writing a book, titled “Grace”, about the 10 days from the 2015 shooting at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, to Obama’s eulogy to Rev. Clementa Pinckney.
- Obama ended up singing “Amazing Grace”.
- The title also points to Keenan’s newborn daughter, Grace.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that Fenway Strategies is operated by former Obama employees. An earlier version incorrectly stated that it was run by Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor, both of whom left the company.