“No response is ever transformative, but if one of the goals is to not destroy the career of a politician, then being forgotten is OK,” said Terry Szuplat, a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama.
Read more »It was a pleasure to join a panel of experts, hosted by Caitriona Perry, during the BBC's live coverage of the State of the Union Address.
Read more »ABC News’ Linsey Davis sat down with former presidential speechwriter Terry Szuplat ahead of Pres. Biden’s State of the Union address to discuss how writers and presidents collaborate.
Read more »“At times, the United States Congress is starting to resemble the British House of Commons with members heckling,” said Terry Szuplat, a former Barack Obama speechwriter who worked on many State of the Union addresses. “More than ever, presidents have to be able to respond in the moment, they have to be nimble. They have to expect that the kind of decorum that we saw in decades past is gone.”
Read more »The State of the Union is "arguably one of the highest profile speeches that a president gives all year," says Terry Szuplat, a former speechwriter for Barack Obama. "So it would seem to be a tremendous opportunity, and yet at the very same time, it rarely, if ever changes the fundamental dynamics of a presidency."
Read more »Today, I’m thinking about Deah, Yusor, and Razan — three American college students who should still be with us.
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As one of his speechwriters, I had a sense that this tragedy struck close to home for the president. Obama knew Boston. As a law student at Harvard, he lived in Somerville. He gave his breakout political speech, at the 2004 Democratic convention, at what’s now the TD Garden. Boston had always welcomed him, as well as the first lady when she was at Harvard Law School.
Terry Szuplat, one of Obama’s longest-serving wordsmiths, has signed a deal with HarperCollins to publish a book that he’s been noodling on for more than a year: "Well Said: Find Your Voice, Speak Your Mind, Inspire Any Audience."
Read more »"The real chief speechwriter was always Barack Obama, whether it was the State of the Union or any other big speech," says Terry Szuplat, who helped craft nearly 500 Obama speeches between 2009-17. "There's so many items to be addressed that every speechwriter does their best to pull it together in a coherent narrative with a common theme that brings everything together, but it's just so difficult when you're talking about truly everything - a state of the union," the rhetorical handyman says.
Read more »Terry Szuplat joins Tony Blair speechwriter Philip Collins and EU Commission speechwriter Lorenzo Biondo to discuss the similarities and differences of speechwriting in the U.S., UK and EU.
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