Where’s the poetry, Mr. President?

Or maybe you favor his concession speech after the New Hampshire primary. “In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.” It was pronounced the best speech in modern American political history by none other than Joe Scarborough, MSNBC’s house Republican.

Or maybe, like me, you prefer a deeper cut from his oratorical songbook, his address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. “The hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him.” I recently watched that speech for the first time in five years. Not to get all Matthews on you, but I have to admit: My leg still twitched.

OK, challenge round: Recite an unforgettable line from an Obama speech since he became president. A lot tougher, isn’t it?

Barack Obama is among the most talented public speakers and most gifted writers ever to have occupied the Oval Office. Yet by my count he has delivered exactly one speech worthy of his talents since taking office. What in the name of Lincoln is going on here?

Obama ultimately bears responsibility for this. But he’s already waging enough battles. So I blame his director of speechwriting.

A year ago, as Obama’s transition team planned its triumphant takeover of Washington, there was a lot of talk about Jon Favreau, then 27. During the campaign, the son of North Reading had proved to be the best kind of speechwriter, one so in tune with his boss’s thoughts, cadence, and style that he could effectively channel him. There were fawning profiles of the handsome, stubble-faced “Favs” and his millennial generation work ethic -- the 2 a.m. writing sessions fueled by Red Bull and takeout. We at the Globe Magazine were among the charmed, naming him a finalist for Bostonian of the Year.

The Holy Cross grad undoubtedly earned his praise during the campaign. But this year, Favreau has produced plenty of grist for the gossip sites. Is he dating a Maxim cover model or Parks and Recreation beauty Rashida Jones? (Go Favs!) And he has been well compensated, pulling down the maximum salary for a West Wing staffer, $172,200, the same paycheck given to chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, national security adviser Jim Jones, and expert on economics and arrogance Larry Summers.

But what Favreau hasn’t produced is a single speech that history will remember for its oratorical power. President Obama’s one great speech was his address to the Muslim world, delivered in June in Cairo. It was written principally by Ben Rhodes, a Favs deputy, and it had the special sauce of a great Obama talk. Teaching you as it moves you, it takes you to unexpected places, alternately synthesizing and inspiring.

Some might argue Obama’s inaugural address was one for the ages. But the words were far less memorable than the historic day itself. Others might cite his September health-care address to Congress. But, again, this was good but not great, and it displayed an Obama verbal tic that’s growing more frequent, a sort of faux hoarseness to convey gravity and passion.

Yet there are promising signs, notably with Obama’s eulogy at Fort Hood. Although its vignettes of the fallen felt formulaic, overall that brief speech was ambitious and quietly powerful.

“Obama is one of the only presidents who, if he weren’t in the Oval Office, could earn a good living as a writer,” says four-time presidential adviser David Gergen of Harvard’s Kennedy School. Obama’s easily the best combination writer-orator since JFK. So why aren’t there more Kennedy-quality speeches?

Obama’s shift actually happened at the end of the 2008 campaign. Going into his convention acceptance speech in Denver, he sought to quiet the critics who accused him of being all talk. His speech would have less poetry, he vowed, and be more “workmanlike.” He sure delivered on that promise.

Since taking office, Obama seems to be following Mario Cuomo’s dictum that “you campaign in poetry, you govern in prose.” But as Obama and Favreau’s team prepare for the next big address, his acceptance speech in December for the Nobel Peace Prize, they should build on the poetry of Cairo and Fort Hood. The challenges facing the young president are so daunting that he needs to be summoning every ounce of his oratorical might, not tamping it down. Words matter. Besides, what does Mario Cuomo know about being president?

Neil Swidey is a staff writer for the Globe Magazine. E-mail him at swidey@globe.com.