The Speechwriter
A Brief Education in Politics
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Barton Swaim was struggling to find an academic job—he’d recently received a PhD in English—when he sent his resume to Mark Sanford, the conservative and controversial governor of South Carolina. He thought he could improve the governor’s writing and speeches.
On the surface, this is the story of Sanford’s rise and fall. But it’s really an account of what happens when a band of believers attach themselves to an ambitious narcissist. Everyone knows this kind of politician—a charismatic maverick who goes up against the system and its ways, but thinks he doesn’t have to live by the rules. Swaim describes what makes people invest in their leaders, how those leaders do provide moments of inspiration, and then how they let them down.
The Speechwriter is a funny and candid introduction to the world of politics, where press statements are purposefully nonsensical, grammatical errors are intentional, and better copy means more words. Through his three years in the governor’s office, Swaim paints a portrait of a man so principled he’d rather sweat than use state money to pay for air conditioning, so oblivious he’d wear the same stained shirt for two weeks, so egotistical he’d belittle his staffers to make himself feel better, and so self-absorbed he never once apologized for making his administration the laughing stock of the country. In the end, it’s also an account of the very human staffers who risk a life in politics out of conviction and learn to survive a broken heart.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Swaim, a writer for the Wall Street Journal and Times Literary Supplement, cut his political teeth as speechwriter for former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. The reflections here follow Swain's work from 2007 to June 2009, when Sanford, who is today a state congressman, notoriously went AWOL with his Argentine girlfriend. This event became a media sensation and shortly led to widespread censure. Much of the book is an entertaining inside look at state politics and how the wheels of executive office grind. The book's best passages explore the appeal of charismatic, earnest, and morally challenged souls like Sanford, who invariably devastate their true-believing but self-interested, in-on-the-game handlers and operatives through disastrous public exposure. Demonstrating empathy mixed with appropriate caution, Swaim reflects on how politicians can be corrupted by "the praise, the fawning, the seriousness with which people take their remarks, the gaze of audiences, the way a crowded room falls silent when they enter." His report on his experiences as a governor's idea man is a fine, sometimes brilliant foray into the nature of contemporary politics, the charismatic narcissists who seek high elected office, and the enablers who allow them to dance in the spotlight.
