Thanks, Obama; My Hopey, Changey White House Years
Lawrence Jackson (photograph on page ii) New York: Ecco [An Imprint of HarperCollingsPublishers], 2017. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. ix, [1], 310 pages. Frontis illustration. Inscribed on the title page To David, Good luck on the hill! D. Litt. DJ has slight wear and soiling. David Litt (born 1986/1987) is an American political speechwriter and author of the comedic memoir Thanks, Obama: My Hopey Changey White House Years. He is currently the head writer/producer for Funny or Die’s office in Washington, D.C. Born to a Jewish family in New York City where he attended the Dalton School, Litt attended Yale University, where he was a member of the Yale Ex!t Players and editor-in-chief of the Yale Record. He first got involved in political speechwriting through an internship with West Wing Writers. He entered the White House in 2011, at the age of 24, and for four years served as a senior presidential speechwriter first to Presidential Advisor Valerie Jarrett, White House Chief of Staff William M. Daley, and ultimately to President Barack Obama, including as the lead writer on four White House Correspondents' Association dinner presentations. Litt has also written for The Onion and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. His first book, Thanks, Obama, was an instant New York Times Bestseller and was named by Esquire magazine one of the Best Books of 2017. His second, Democracy in One Book or Less, was released in June 2020. A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. An Esquire Best Book of 2017. Remember when presidents spoke in complete sentences instead of in unhinged tweets? Former Obama speechwriter David Litt does. In his comic, coming-of-age memoir, he takes us back to the Obama years, and charts a path forward in the age of Trump. More than any other presidency, Barack Obama's eight years in the White House were defined by young people, twenty-somethings who didn't have much experience in politics (or anything else, for that matter), yet suddenly found themselves in the most high-stakes office building on earth. David Litt was one of those twenty-somethings. After graduating from college in 2008, he went straight to the Obama campaign. In 2011, he became one of the youngest White House speechwriters in history. Until leaving the White House in 2016, he wrote on topics from healthcare to climate change to criminal justice reform. As President Obama's go-to comedy writer, he also took the lead on the White House Correspondents' Dinner, the so-called State of the Union of jokes. Now, in this refreshingly honest memoir, Litt brings us inside Obamaworld. With a humorists' eye for detail, he describes what it's like to accidentally trigger an international incident or nearly set a president's hair aflame. He answers questions you never knew you had: Which White House men's room is the classiest? What do you do when the commander in chief gets your name wrong? Where should you never, under any circumstances, change clothes on Air Force One? With nearly a decade of stories to tell, Litt makes clear that politics is completely, hopelessly absurd. But it's also important. For all the moments of chaos, frustration, and yes, disillusionment, Litt remains a believer in the words that first drew him to the Obama campaign: People who love this country can change it. In telling his own story, Litt sheds fresh light on his former boss's legacy. And he argues that, despite the current political climate, the politics championed by Barack Obama will outlive the presidency of Donald Trump. Full of hilarious stories and told in a truly original voice, Thanks, Obama is an exciting debut about what it means, personally, professionally, and politically, to grow up. Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: Barack Obama, Speechwriter, President, Air Force One, Humor, White House Correspondents' Association, Valerie Jarrett, William Daley, State of the Union, Health Care, Climate Change, Criminal Justice Reform, Propaganda
ISBN: 9780062568458
[Book #81964]
Price: $150.00