Politico Explainer – “Every president will likely agree: speechwriters are the forgotten heroes behind almost everything they say in public. And no matter who the president is or what party he’s from, the writers have a huge lift for the State of the Union: to craft, arguably, the biggest speech a president will give all year. “It’s not just a speech it’s not just to get applause. It’s really a state paper. You start weeks or even months in advance. Every word matters,” Michael Waldman, the current president of the Brennan Center for Justice, said. Waldman worked in the Clinton White House from 1993-1999. And for the majority of his time, he was the Clinton’s chief speechwriter, either editing or writing almost 2,000 speeches and being the lead on four State of the Union addresses. POLITICO sat down with Waldman before President Trump’s second State of the Union to get a behind-the-scenes look at how speechwriters help prepare the president for what will be their most watched speech all year.” [h/t Pete Weiss]