Jon Favreau: Daily Routine

Obama called him a “mind reader”—now Jon Favreau’s shaping the political conversation one podcast episode at a time.

The former Director of Speechwriting for President Barack Obama is now hosting one of the most popular political podcasts right now. Not a typical career path for a speechwriter. But it’s not like Jon Favreau (no, not that one) ever had much of a typical career to begin with anyway.

After cutting his speechwriting teeth during Senator John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, Favreau joined Obama’s team in 2005, and became his chief speechwriter in 2006. When Obama assumed the presidency in 2009, Favreau was appointed Director of Speechwriting and became the second-youngest chief White House speechwriter, after James Fallows, who wrote for President Jimmy Carter.

Favreau would spend the next four years in the White House, working closely with Obama, before leaving in 2013. He cited burnout and the desire to pursue other ambitions, which included consulting screenwriting, launching communications firm Fenway Strategies with former Obama spokesperson, Tommy Vietor, and contributing to various outlets, including writing for The Daily Beast and hosting Keepin’ it 1600 on The Ringer podcast network.