Beard? Weird!

And finally, I believe that Cody Keenan is the first presidential chief speechwriter with a full beard. To congratulate Keenan on winning an award from his alma mater, Northwestern University, President Obama made a short video praising Keenan as a “brilliant writer,” and chiding him on his “terrible beard.”

The president’s public acknowledgment of Keenan’s facial hair represents a small step forward in the obscure and endless fight for speechwriters’ rights.