Reading Newsweek’s recent profile of Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau made me feel old enough to have written speeches for Henry Clay. Ye gods! Favreau is only 26 years old.

But then, I brightened up, because there was a lot in the profile I could relate to. For example: “His boss is a best-selling author who really doesn’t need his help, having written the 2004 speech that catapulted him onto the national stage.”

O.K., I’ve written for Colin Powell, so I’ve been there.

Ditto the next line in the article: “At the same time, the same boss also happens to be capable of delivering a speech in ways that give his audience the goosebumps.”

I can also relate to a comment made by Obama’s communications director, Robert Gibbs: “If there were 48 hours in a day, we wouldn’t need a speechwriter.”

True enough. I’ve worked for some absolutely brilliant politicians and CEOs who would be perfectly capable of writing their own speeches –- if they only had the time. Fortunately for me, they didn’t. They needed me to do the research, the first drafts, the major re-writes and the other heavy lifting.

For example, I once wrote a speech for Colin Powell for the ceremonies marking the 100th anniversary of the unveiling of the monument to Col. Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry on Boston Common. The Massachusetts 54th was one of the first official black units in the U.S. armed forces, and inspired the 1989 Academy award-winning film, Glory.

In the course of researching that speech, I read about 20 books, including the complete letters and papers of Robert Gould Shaw. Obviously, General Powell had no time for such extensive research on his own. But the labor was worth it, because I unearthed some very interesting historical facts that ultimately found their way into the general’s speech. Among other things, I learned that two sons of civil rights leader Frederick Douglass served with the 54th, and that another member of the regiment, Sgt. William Carney, was the first African-American soldier to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. (Gen. Powell ended up being particularly grateful for this information, since a descendant of Sgt. Carney showed up at the ceremonies in Boston, bringing with him his ancestor’s Medal of Honor.)

Finally, I can share Jon Favreau’s strong sense of satisfaction when he gets to work one-on-one with his boss. “What I do is sit with him for half an hour,” Favreau explains. “He talks and I type everything he says. I reshape it, I write. He writes, he reshapes it. That’s how we get a finished product.”

“It’s a great way to write speeches,” concludes Favreau. It is indeed. This mere stripling is only 26 and he’s made it to speechwriter’s heaven. I hope he knows how lucky he is.