In my continuing effort to convince each reader of this blog that he or she ought to support Barack Obama simply on grounds that Obama is the greatest writer in American politics since Abraham Lincoln, I submit to you this new Newsweek interview with Jon Favreau, the lucky young man who is writing Obama's speeches in the most collaborative, rewarding and sane way ever heard of since Sorensen and Kennedy in 1960.

The 26-year-old got the job when Obama asked him what his theory of speechwriting was and he said exactly the correct thing:

"I have no theory ... But when I saw you at the [2004 Democratic National] convention, you basically told a story about your life from beginning to end, and it was a story that fit with the larger American narrative. People applauded not because you wrote an applause line but because you touched something in the party and the country that people had not touched before. Democrats haven't had that in a long time."

That was a good answer. But not quite as precise as my own answer, offered in a letter to Obama's communication director Robert Gibbs dated Jan. 3 of last year, offering my help, as a connector to other speechwriters or as a writer myself:

"Senator Obama has offered a pinhole of hope for a basic American reconciliation around common values we know we share, even amid a political context designed to make liberals and conservatives see our fellow Americans as either godless monsters or superstitious idiots. ...

"Perhaps most relevant, I have a three-year-old daughter. I’d like to be able to tell her, as I was told as a child, that she lives in a great and wise country. President Obama would be my best hope. If you see a way for me to help make that happen, I’m at your service."

I never heard back. But in case young Favreau throws a few errant balls, I'm keeping my helmet on.