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Cody Keenan is the former unpaid intern behindPresident Obama's amazing speechesBY: VICTORIA CRAW

FROM: NEWS.COM.AU

8 HOURS AGODECEMBER 10, 2013 1:00PM

Cody Keenan dressed as a pirate f or Talk like a Pirate day . Picture: AFP. Source: AFP

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"TODAY, he has gone home. And we have lost one of the most influential, courageous, and profoundly goodhuman beings that any of us will share time with on this Earth," said President Obama last week after newsbroke that Nelson Mandela was dead, aged 95.

What you may not know is that the touching tribute heard around the world, may not be his own, but the work of aformer unpaid intern, Cody Keenan, who is the President's head speechwriter.

Here's what you never knew about the man behind those epic speeches:

• Cody Keenan, 32, typically works from 7:45am until 2am as head of a team of speechwriters.

• Like the President, Keenan is from Chicago. He studied to be a surgeon, before switching to Chinese, theninternational studies, before falling in love with The West Wing and changing to political science.

• He hammered the pavements in Washington and scored an internship with Senator Ted Kennedy before working hisway up to speechwriter.

• He then scored another internship on the Obama campaign working for Jon Favreau, the wunderkind who was hired at23 and wrote Obama's famous inauguration speech. After Favreau left to work as a Hollywood screenwriter, Keenanstepped up to the top job.

The President's f ormer speech writer Jon Fav reau has lef t to work in Holly wood. Source: Supplied

• Before his first day he stayed up all night watching Obama on YouTube. "It was pretty scary, and I didn't want to letanyone down," he said.

• He meets with the President every Monday morning to discuss the week ahead, before drafting speeches which arechecked by a team of policy advisers.

• He once described the job as like handing in a university paper. "You get a paper assignment, you might pull an all-nighter or come in really early to finish, and you hand it in and then you get his marks back and find out whether he likesit or not."

• Sometimes they disagree, but Keenan said he argues "pretty well" for his point - something he never dared to do in thepast.

• Keenan believers the role should be heard, but not seen and follows a mantra from President Roosevelt which says thepresident's aides should be "possessed of high competence … and a passion for anonymity," according to an interviewwith his former university.

• One of his biggest successes was Obama's famous speech in Tucson, Arizona at the memorial for victims of theJanuary 2011 shooting. It was described by US historian Ellen Fitzpatrick as "intensely personal, evoking the lives of thevictims of this tragedy, describing the heroism of everyday Americans, and the theme of children."

• He also wrote Obama's funny speech for the 2009 White House Correspondents Association dinner and the 2013 Stateof the Union, as well as key speeches throughout the recession, Arab Spring and the introduction of Obamacare.

• He said a good speech has four main elements: "Charity, clarity, levity, and brevity."

• Keenan said it's easy to get trapped inside the "Washington bubble" but the most important thing to remember is whyyou wanted to do the job in the first place. "I have an immediate family member who was unemployed during therecession, so I know intimately how that challenges your sense of self-worth. I have friends who have served in Iraq. Ihave gay friends who are upset that change and equality haven't come quite fast enough," he once said in an interview.

Obama speaks to Arizona Shooting victims

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What do you think of Obama's famous speeches? Continue the conversation on Twitter @newscomauHQ |@Victoria-Craw

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SOURCE: http://www.news.com.au/finance/cody-keenan-is-the-former-unpaid-intern-behind-president-obamas-amazing-speeches/story-e6frfm1i-

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Obama speaks to Arizona Shooting victims

President Obama delivers a stirring speech in Tucson, Arizona

following a mass shooting in the town. Courtesy C-Span.

Obama addresses the White House Corresp…

President Obama speaks at the 2009 White House Correspondents'

Dinner. Traditionally poking fun at the administration and the journalists