I am talking about Jon Favreau, the svelte, handsome speechwriter, not Jon Favreau, the more substantial actor/filmmaker known for Swingers (1996), Chef (2014) or Iron Man (2008). It’s not a familiar name, so how crazy is that there are two of them in the spotlight?
Today’s Man Crush, Favreau, was born in Winchester, Massachusetts, to parents of Greek descent. He graduated in 2003 from The College Of The Holy Cross College with a degree in political science. In college, he was chairman of the College Democrats, plus he studied classical piano. In 2001, Favreau worked with Habitat For Humanity. In 2002, he helped establish a program in Boston to help unemployed people improve their resumes and interview skills, and interned for Senator John Kerry.
He joined Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign soon after graduation from Holy Cross. His job was to put together audio clips of talk radio shows for the Kerry camp to review for the next day. When the Kerry campaign began to falter at one point, they found themselves without a speechwriter, and Favreau was promoted to deputy speechwriter. Following Kerry’s defeat, Favreau became disillusioned with politics, and was uncertain with what he would do next.
But, Favreau met then Illinois State Senator Barack Obama, who was running for the Senate, backstage at the 2004 Democratic National Convention as Obama was rehearsing his keynote address. 23-year-old Favreau, interrupted Obama’s rehearsal. He advised Obama to do a rewrite. That speech turned out to be one of the most famous in political history.
In 2005, he began working for Obama in his United States Senate office, and then became the chief speechwriter on Obama’s Presidential campaign in 2007.
Obama was not really interested in Favreau’s resume and instead questioned him on what motivated him to work in politics, and his theory of writing. Favrau:
“A speech can broaden the circle of people who care about this stuff. How do you say to the average person that’s been hurting: ‘I hear you, I’m there?’ Even though you’ve been so disappointed and cynical about politics in the past, and with good reason, we can move in the right direction. Just give me a chance.”
Favreau was the primary writer of Obama’s inauguration address on January 20, 2009. Favreau spent weeks on his research. He interviewed historians and speechwriters, studied periods of crisis, and listened to past inaugural speeches. He wrote the final draft in a Starbucks near The White House. It was the most amazing inaugural speech since John F. Kennedy.
After Obama became POTUS, Favreau was appointed Assistant To The President, and he wasn’t even his son-in-law. He was also named Director Of Speechwriting. He became the youngest chief White House speechwriter ever.
At the time Favreau was dating actor Rashida Jones.
After the election of Ivanka’s daddy in November, Favreau co-founded Crooked Media, which produces the podcast Pod Save America, taking on clickbait, fake news, and whatever Trump is tweeting about:
“We promise a no-bullshit conversation about politics where you can laugh, cry, scream, ridicule us daily, share your ideas, and hopefully decide that you want to help fix this mess too. That goes for Democrats who want to learn from our party’s mistakes (which is hard because things are so perfect), Republicans ready to hold Trump accountable (fingers crossed on that one!), and everybody, everywhere who’s been asking the same question: What do we do now?”
Here he is talking about that single time we showered together at a DC gym
Favreau also writes for the Daily Beast.
In the wake of the Republican’s new, ironically titled American Health Care Act, Favreau coined the term “wealthcare”.
Favreau was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time Magazine, GQ’s 50 Most Powerful People In D.C, on Vanity Fair Magazine’s Next Establishment List, and he was featured in People Magazine’s World’s Most Beautiful People issue.
Just so you know, Favreau’s nickname is “Favs”, and he is afraid of flying.
Favreau has said that he is done in DC politics, stating:
“Anything else after Obama would be anticlimactic. Maybe I’ll write a screenplay, or maybe a fiction book based loosely on what all of this was like. You had a bunch of kids working on this campaign together, and it was such a mix of the serious and momentous and just the silly ways that we are. For people in my generation, it was an unbelievable way to grow up.”
“Trump:
1) Profited off of 9/11
2) Rooted for the housing crash
3) Ran a fraudulent university
4) Sued for tax dodging
5) Is a dick”
Do we think Favreau is a total dreamboat?
