For prominent comments, he obsessively rehearsed parts until he memorized them. And sometimes, through several iterations of commentary outlined, Biden could become totally stubborn.
“I would never say that,” Biden once said to an aide, horrified by the prepared comments he was reviewing, according to one person in the room during a speech preparation session last year. “Where did you get that?'”
The aide explained that Biden had just said this in a public speech a few weeks earlier.
Those are the trademarks and nasty marks that are the sausage of writing speeches with Biden.
Whether it’s his second speech on the same day in Michigan or a speech broadcast on national television, there are few tasks in politics that Biden takes more seriously than speaking. And, perhaps, the struggles he had with speech in childhood explain why.
On Wednesday, Biden, the boy who grew up talking with stuttering, will deliver an inaugural speech that carries more weight than any of the speeches he has had an obsession with in the past.
“He is well aware that this is the most important inaugural speech since Lincoln,” said Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat who is a close ally of Biden.
Biden’s speech, which is expected to last between 20 and 30 minutes, should repeat themes he has addressed since he entered the presidential race in April 2019, including bringing back the “soul of the nation” and a promise to be president for all Americans, even those who did not vote for him.
But, unlike some of those earlier versions, there is a high urgency in Wednesday’s speech. Facing several crises, including a pandemic and the economic consequences of it, Biden needs bipartisan support to bring an ambitious agenda to Congress. A powerful inaugural speech is seen as a step towards bringing more opponents to his side, say those close to him.
Longtime advisers and advisers hope that the inaugural speech will cross the territory that Biden has covered throughout his nearly 50-year public career, while highlighting an agenda that offers hope to a country devastated by disease, economic struggles and violent political upheaval.
While the process behind developing Biden’s speeches can be tiring (a longtime adviser jokingly suggested creating a support group for Biden’s speech writers), there is a method for doing so. Biden kept a core team of loyal advisers around him, who learned to analyze when the president-elect is just kidding and when he really wants his thoughts to be put on paper.
Biden was comfortable with chief speechwriter Vinay Reddy and senior adviser Mike Donilon, who helped him to outline his narratives in a simple and informed way. The president-elect also relied on Tony Blinken, his designated secretary of state, to assist with the speech writing process. The new team leader, Ron Klain, is also in the mix.
For his speeches, Biden receives advice – solicited and unsolicited – from a broad cast of luminaries, which in the past included historian Jon Meacham. However, two people with knowledge of the preparations said that Meacham did not participate in the formation of the inaugural speech.
“I know there is a lot of attention to the speech,” said the President of the Democratic National Finance Committee Chris Korge. “He’s going to turn the page and move on for all Americans.”
The inaugural speech will be Biden’s biggest audience since he gave an acceptance speech on November 7. It will be the most risky speech since what he did at the Democratic National Convention in August, when misinformation boiled over his mental acuity. Biden’s team at the time said it was prepared for Republicans – that is, President Donald Trump – to cling to whatever phrase Biden misrepresented.
“People were nervous,” said a confidant who spoke to Biden days before the convention speech, which was delivered in Wilmington, Del. proud ancestors. I’m going to make Mom and Dad proud ”.
Cedric Richmond, the Louisiana congressman who just resigned to take an important role in the Biden White House, said now, just as in August, people did not give Biden due credit.
“People have always underestimated their ability to face a challenge,” said Richmond. “No matter what happens, he is always up to the occasion.”
Biden will speak at a time when there is a show of strength in the country’s capital, with the center of the district closed to the public and thousands of armed soldiers roaming the streets to avoid the kind of deadly unrest that unfolded inside the Capitol building in 6 of January.
But Matt Teper, who worked as a speechwriter for Biden at the Obama White House, predicted that Biden would spend little or no time talking about Trump specifically.
“The most important thing tomorrow is probably your tone,” said Teper. “American carnage [the theme of Trump’s inaugural address] keeps showing up in every conversation, but nobody wants to hear that. It needs to give people a sense of looking forward. There is a president in charge now. As long as he designs it all, then this is a success. “
Christopher Cadelago and Marc Caputo contributed to this report.