Jon Favreau - former chief speechwriter for President Obama | Q&A with UCD L&H Society

** Questions listed below ** US President Barack Obama's former chief speechwriter Jon Favreau was presented with the James Joyce Award from the UCD Literary & Historical Society, University College Dublin. Once described by US President Obama as his "mind reader", Jon Favreau's words are credited as having contributed to getting Barack Obama elected President. Favreau worked on both the 2008 and 2012 election campaigns as chief speechwriter, and later served as Head of Speechwriting in the White House. Previous recipients of the UCD Literary & Historical Society, James Joyce Award include: Hollywood comedian, Will Ferrell; the Beatle's music producer and arranger, the man known as the Fifth Beatle, Sir George Martin; Harry Potter author, JK Rowling; Nobel prize-winning economist, Professor Paul Krugman; former Monty Python, Michael Palin; and The Who frontman and legendary rock star, Roger Daltrey. The UCD James Joyce Award is named after the University College Dublin alumni and author of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, James Joyce. It is presented by the UCD Literary and Historical Society to individuals who have achieved outstanding success in their given field. 00:05 - Were you able to live up to the ideal of contributing to your community that Holy Cross gave you? 03:16 - What is your creative process like 07:42 - It was reported that you had made a break for Hollywood and are trying your hand at screenwriting, is that something you are doing currently? 09:30 - Do you approve of Obama's Between Two Ferns video with Zach Galifianakis? 11:03 - why is the president having such difficulty selling the health care plan at the moment? 14:28 - Have you ever written a speech for Obama and thought "'how am i able to defend this particular policy'? 16:11 - What's the best book you've read recently and who is your favourite author? 17:43 - Do you write the humorous speeches and is it more difficult than the serious stuff to write? 19:38 - How did you deal with being young and do you have advice for young people trying to succeed? 21:36 - Do you think there are things which can be done to unify america on certain views? 24:11 - One of George Bush's aides once said that working in the Whitehouse is more like working in The Office than the West Wing, would you agree with that? 26:21 - Do you think that politicians are more tempted to campaign at the expense of governing, and because you're different political groups presenting different political facts do you not find that it's very hard to know what is 'true'? 29:46 - The president has a public image of being very cool and in control, but in private did he ever snap? 31:59 - The Philedelphia speech was mentioned, it's an incredible speech and also very edgy, could you give us a little insight into what happened, because that was on the campaign trail as well? 36:05 - What drew you specifically to speechwriting and what was the best one you ever did? 39:46 - do you have a favourite speech? 41:30 - What's your opinion on the Edward Snowden and the NSA issue? 46:49 - Do you have fond memories of the first couple of weeks of Obama as president? 48:39 - would you ever consider going into politics yourself? 50:00 - What would you like to be voting for when you're 106? 51:42 - How do judge the racial climate in the United States today and how much do you have to take that into consideration?