Back in August, David Murray speculated on the question, how important is it for speechwriters to like the person they write for?

David, whose politics slant in a different direction than mine, wondered how “a good fellow like [former presidential speechwriter Michael] Gerson could enthusiastically work for a bad fellow like Bush.”

He concluded that another blogger, Lisa Kadonaga (who writes the Liberal Slant), had the right idea when she said that writers, like all artists, “tend to portray what they see, rather than what is actually there.”

Kadonaga concluded that Mr. Gerson saw President Bush as a nice guy, and his feelings about his boss carried over into his work.

Since I’ve liked, or at least respected, practically everybody I’ve ever written for over the past 20 years or so, I’m not disposed to argue the point. Nor do I think it’s particularly remarkable that people will work harder for a boss they like than for one they don’t.

In the case of speechwriting, we can take this idea one step further and say that regardless of the message, audiences will respond more warmly to a speaker they like than to one who leaves them cold.

The strength of this particular phenomenon was attested to by a professor of psychology named Robert Levine in his book, “The Power of Persuasion.” Says Professor Levine:

“If you could master just one element of personal communication that is more powerful than anything … it is the quality of being likeable. I call it the magic bullet, because if your audience likes you, they’ll forgive just about everything else you do wrong. If they don’t like you, you can hit every rule right on target and it doesn’t matter.”

I think it’s time to acknowledge one of speechwriting’s dirty little secrets: If your speaker is likeable, your job is half done before you write your first word.