Barack Obama (c. December 2020) recalling advice he'd once given his chief speechwriter.
• As quoted in "Barack Obama has created a playlist to accompany A Promised Land" by Walker Caplan, The Hub: News, Notes, Talk (21 December 2020).
• As quoted in "Barack Obama has created a playlist to accompany A Promised Land" by Walker Caplan, The Hub: News, Notes, Talk (21 December 2020).
“
And on one particularly weighty draft he turned in, I told him to go home that night, pour a drink, and listen to some Miles Davis. I told him the thing about Miles Davis is the silences. The notes he doesn’t play. So with that in mind, go take another swing at your draft, find me some silences, and then I’ll get to work.
— Barack Obama on Miles Davis
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "And on one particularly weighty draft he turned in, I told him to go home that night, pour a drink, and listen to some Miles Davis. I told him the thing about Miles Davis is the silences. The notes he doesn’t play. So with that in mind, go take another swing at your draft, find me some silences, and then I’ll get to work." in the context of "Barack Obama (c. December 2020) recalling advice he'd once given his chief speechwriter.
• As quoted in "Barack Obama has created a playlist to accompany A Promised Land" by Walker Caplan, The Hub: News, Notes, Talk (21 December 2020)." to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "Miles Davis" (About Miles Davis)
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed February 05, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
About Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States of America from 2009 to 2017. Born in Hawaii, the son of a Kenyan father and a mother from Kansas, he won the 2008 presidential election and was re-elected president in November 2012. A member of the U.S. Democratic Party, he was the first African American president. Before becoming president, he represented the 13th district for three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004 and served as United States senator from Illinois between January 4, 2005 and November 16, 2008. While president, he was the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
About Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States of America from 2009 to 2017. Born in Hawaii, the son of a Kenyan father and a mother from Kansas, he won the 2008 presidential election and was re-elected president in November 2012. A member of the U.S. Democratic Party, he was the first African American president. Before becoming president, he represented the 13th district for three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004 and served as United States senator from Illinois between January 4, 2005 and November 16, 2008. While president, he was the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
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