Obama and his speech writer Cody Keenan....Keenan had spent 15 days holed up in a hotel room in Honolulu as the president vacationed nearby, and seven more in a windowless office in the basement of the West Wing trying to turn a blank computer screen into a 6,000-word State of the Union first draft for Obama.
A 6,000 word speech? That’s 5,999 too many.