The Round Table: A YVote Podcast

Mark Hanis notes that Inclusive America looks at the feeders for positions and notice there are strong “tracks” to getting jobs in government. A really troubling thing about the 5000 appointments the Executive Branch makes is that they violate all hiring practices. Very few have formal job descriptions, very few are publicly posted. A lot of them are acquired through who you know, which perpetuate...

Mark Hanis shared troubling trends about demographic makeup in the Executive Branch. We’ve never had a woman ambassador in the US for many countries like Germany, Israel, Spain, Russia, China, and Turkey although there have always been very talented women to serve in these positions. We’ve never had an African American serve as Under Secretary of State, which is third highest position in the State...

As a White House Fellow working for the National Security Council as part of Vice President Biden’s team, Mark Hanis couldn’t help but notice that most of the people around him were white men. He inquired about who was trying to make government representative of our populace. There were some great examples— but they were almost all focused on Congress. There weren’t as many efforts or resources fo...

At this week's Round Table, Inica Kotasthane, Madeline Mayes, and Olivia Becker spoke with Mark Hanis , serial social entrepreneur and most recently co-founder of Inclusive America AND Progressive Shopper. Did you know that the Executive Branch is the largest employer in government, employing over four million people inclusive of those in the military? Having worked as a White House Fellow in the...

Sarah Hurwitz underscores how much wisdom there is to be mined in our religious traditions, especially about dealing with hard times. So she wanted to write a book that both covered the basics of Judaism and unearthed Judaism’s deepest, most transformative, most helpful wisdom for dealing with the daily challenges of our lives—how we treat each other, how we lead moving, spiritual lives—and that d...

Sarah Hurwitz shared how the Obamas riffed and wrote for weeks in advance of giving a speech out of respect to the audience, so that by the time they were in front of an audience it was well structured and presented coherently. There’s a myth that the greatest speeches happen when you get up to the podium and abandon your script to speak spontaneously from the heart, yet that is only true maybe 5-...

Revisiting Judaism as an adult, Sarah Hurwitz found that it had thousands of years of wisdom for millions of humans on what it means to be human: what it means to be a good person, what it means to lead a truly worthy life, and how to find spiritual connection.

Sarah Hurwitz shared the degree to which authenticity resonates with audiences, from Michelle Obama to Donald Trump. With Trump, people feel that nothing about him is hidden, which appeals to many people, even those who don’t like him. Sarah thinks it’s a response to the kind of speaking and speechwriting that has been overly polished and scripted, which is very insulting to the American people. T...

Sarah Hurwitz underscores how much context matters in remembering a great line—and the degree to which there’s an element of randomness. Michelle Obama had used the line “when they go low, you go high” in previous speeches but it was in the context of the 2016 convention—that moment in time, that magical speech—that the phrase struck and stuck.

Speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz unpacks when and why a line like “When they go low, we go high” (which Michelle Obama wrote herself) is so powerful.

Sarah Hurwitz underscores that what people remember is stories and images, not adjectives. Think about how Michelle Obama started her 2016 Convention speech. She didn’t say, “on my daughters’ first day of school at the White House, I was anxious and scared and worried.” She said, “on my daughters’ first day of school, they climbed into those big SUVs with all those men with fins and I saw their li...

Sarah Hurwitz shared that tbe second great truth of effective speechwriting is say something true. Often people will try to think what will make me sound smart or funny or powerful or what does the audience want to hear but your first question should be what is the deepest and most helpful and most important truth that I can tell right now. I think about then Senator Barack Obama’s first line in t...

Sarah Hurwitz shared the key truths of really good writing The first is writing that sounds like a human being would actually say it. You have NEVER turned to a friend and said, “hey, do you want to leverage our platform to catalyze a zoom call tonight?” or turn to a family member and say, “I just think hardworking American family values are the heart of our country”. That’s not how people talk. S...

Sarah Hurwitz shared that people often ask her how she nailed Michelle Obama’s voice in speeches she’d write for her. Sarah notes that what she thinks people are REALLY asking is how did you, a white Jewish woman “get” the voice of a black woman when you have very different backgrounds? Sarah notes that while it’s true that they have very different backgrounds, they have a very similar sensibility...

So HOW do you write a speech for someone else—esp someone famous and iconic? Sarah Hurwitz shared that the key is to know them and their voice really well and to listen very carefully.

Sarah Hurwitz LOVED working w Michelle Obama. Michelle stayed true to herself rather than saying or doing things for political expediency. She never wanted to give some boring, weedy, wonky speech—she wanted to tell people stories, and touch their hearts, and honor their struggles, and make people feel seen and heard and respected and admired. Sarah considers MO her speechwriting soulmate and feel...

Sarah Hurwitz shared her journey to becoming an (ace) speechwriter. After a bumpy start—and a number of campaign losses—she was hired by then-Senator Barack Obama’s campaign. She ended up being “loaned” to Mrs Obama to write her convention speech in ‘08. She was so compelled by MO’s warmth, smarts, and “relentless authenticity” that she took a “demotion” to work for the First Lady instead of the F...

At this week’s Round Table, Inica, graduating podcaster Julianna, incoming podcaster Madeline, and Olivia spoke with Sarah Hurwitz, author of “Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life — In Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There)” Sarah Hurwitz was a White House speechwriter from 2009 to 2017, starting out as a senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama and then ser...

Riya Mehta shared her views that there isn’t l anything wrong with having “anyone but Trump” be the Democratic Party’s unifying call right now. She noted that ultimately, the focus of America is the middle class, the working class, and that’s what Trump and Biden are battling for. While she doesn’t feel Biden was the best choice for the Democratic Party in terms of its future goals she noted that...

Inica shares her concern that defeating Trump is the only thing the Democratic Party is worrying about and standing for right now. She expresses concerns about Biden staying silent and not talking about the issues he plans on focusing on when in office. Once we get closer to Nov, voters are going to want more clarity on what specifically Biden is going to do to reverse the past four years and to a...

One of the biggest things the primary was focused on was electability. Calvin Cullen shares his strong beliefs that the establishment part of the Democratic Party was wrong to feel the party couldn’t nominate a Bernie Sanders or an Andrew Yang because they’d be called radical leftists and that would kill the ticket. The reality is that attack ads are inevitable—Biden and Harris are getting them an...

Calvin Cullen, creator of the podcast CC’s World based in Birmingham Alabama, notes that when it comes to electoral strategy, he feels Biden boxed himself into a corner when he committed to picking a woman. He feels Biden should have focused on policies more than identity, and that this pick in fact signifies an avoidance of focusing on policy. Overall, he anticipates this being a verrrry close el...

At this week's Round Table,  Inica, Olivia, Riya, and Sara spoke with Calvin Cullen, college student, Birmingham Coordinator for Take Back Our Republic, and creator of CC’s Word , a weekly opinion podcast about current events and the politics of the day.  We spoke about, wait for it, Joe Biden’s newly announced vice presidential pick, Kamala Harris, and the implications of the choice. Ye...

Divya and Eliza of Real Talk note that where they as students come in is in helping teachers know what exactly students are going to be most receptive to in civil discourse. They underscore that they don’t have all the expertise—they’re still students themselves. What they DO know is how to engage high schoolers in a space that is student led, how to do things that are relevant to them, and how to...

Divya and Eliza use REAL TALK as an acronym to explain their core principles for productive discussions, like E for Embrace Discomfort and K for Know Yourself. This is coupled with a core curriculum of seven lessons that cover core skills that connect what happens in rue classroom with what is really applicable for learning about civic engagement. Too often, there’s not a connection btw classroom...