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    Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years
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    Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years
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    Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years
    Ebook348 pages5 hours

    Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years

    By David Litt

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateSep 19, 2017
    ISBN9780062568465
    Author

    David Litt

    David Litt is the New York Times best-selling author of Thanks, Obama: My Hopey Changey White House Years. From 2011-2016, David wrote speeches for President Obama, and was described as ""the comic muse for the president"" for his work on the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Since leaving the White House, he served as the head writer and producer for Funny Or Die's office in Washington, with a focus on improving youth turnout in the 2018 election, and developed a sitcom based on his life in D.C.  He frequently appears on CNN and MSNBC to discuss current events. 

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    Reviews for Thanks, Obama

    4/5

    84 ratings14 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This is now the third memoir of an Obama staffer I've read about time in that White House, and the most uneven. Litt was a speechwriter that flipped a couple of times between federal service and the campaign, quite a ride for someone in the late 20s to early 30s age cohort. There were a lot of interesting anecdotes about that time, mixed in with personal growth and introspection. I would say the downside of this experience is that the author felt quite smug about achieving this level of success without dwelling on the fact that being from a comfortable Manhattan family, being a straight white male, and having a degree from Yale made that success much more likely. He also glossed over much of what Obama the president stood for, with BIPOC and LGBTQ people mentioned only as part of a winning coalition of voters and not as people. It's a fun story, but if you want a clearer insider look at the Obama administration, I'd recommend starting with Alyssa Mastromonaco's book instead.
    • 4/5
      This book is full of politics, but it's still funny and interesting. It tells the sides of things the public doesn't see. It also gives insider info on what the Obama administration was like.
    • 5/5
      VERY well written. It’s funny and it’s serious, and I learned a lot.
    • 5/5
      Best book I’ve read in awhile. Uplifting and insightful, but yet not too fluffy in any way. Definitely recommend this to those interested in the power of words in moving and captivating people.
    • 5/5
      Insightful and funny firsthand account of how it was to work for Obama's campaign and White House
    • 5/5
      David Litt isn't just funny. He's positively hilarious in many passages of this entertaining memoir. His masterful writing combined with his self-deprecating humor offers readers a unique perch from which to view some of the most momentous events in Washington during the Obama era. Regardless of one's political views, I believe Litt's book will be viewed as a delightful and offbeat peek into White Housing happenings.
    • 4/5
      An interesting view into the White House during Obama's years. It's not a Trump bashing story (although there are a few digs), but a Pro-Obama story that shows humor and intelligence by President Obama as well as those around him. Litt is a great storyteller. Definitely worth one's time to read!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I enjoyed David Litt's memoir a lot! He worked in the good old days as a speechwriter for President Obama.He's self-deprecating and humorous when talking about his experiences as a 20 something White House staff person. He wasn't in the "inner circle" but did have experiences with the president. The stories were both funny and inspiring. As a listener of Pod Save America I was particularly interested in his writing about Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett who were also speechwriters for President Obama.Closing the memoir with Zoe's story was just about perfect!
    • 1/5
      Is this the guy who told Obama to say: " You can keep your plan, and you can keep your doctor" ?
    • 4/5
      Based on the first one or two chapters, I had very low expectations for the rest of the book, and set it aside for a few months. But it gets much better! The author has a great sense of humor, and humility. He talks about what works, and, more interestingly, what didn't work and the lessons he and other Obama staffers learned. This is less a discussion of politics or policy than an office work memoir—but one set in a unique office. Very enjoyable.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This almost felt like two different stories being told. One was that of Litt's own story of growth, and the other was that of the political ups and downs of President Obama's two terms in office.Though, I'm not sure if it was purposeful, the memoir left me feeling emotional and nostalgic. It made me miss Obama even more than I already do. Perhaps it's because of the current political climate we live in currently, but reading about the accomplishments and moreover the character of President Obama, left me feeling utterly hopeless, and somehow, optimistically hopeful at the same time!What I loved about the memoir was that it was not overly political, in the sense that Litt was not writing to shove an agenda down your throat. It read as a retelling of his time as a speechwriter for Obama. Clearly his political beliefs matched up with that of the President, so certainly you aren't left wondering what he believed, but the memoir never seems to be about convincing its readers about policies or ideas. Which can be great for anyone who is currently off put by politics. You can still enjoy the memoir. Litt is very funny and I found myself laughing out loud throughout, which helped with keeping the tone of the book from becoming overly sentimental.The other part I loved was that Litt did not paint President Obama in an unrealistic light. He never sets out to write Obama as a saint, or perfect, but rather admits to times where he was frustrated and disillusioned by the President, which humanizes both Litt and Obama. That felt important, and to me, made the memoir so successful. Litt does an amazing job of capturing the hope that Obama instilled in so many young people during his time as President. That hope which is so hard to find these days. It was a refreshing reminder that there still IS hope! A reminder that was much needed.This was a great memoir and I seemed to find it at the perfect time.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      What a unique perspective from within the Obama Administration! Surprisingly humorous and fairly apolitical. I really enjoyed it!
    • 5/5
      David Litt, the author, was a Yale student when he volunteered for the Obama campaign in 2008. After his victory, Obama hired him to work in his administration as a speechwriter, where he continued in that role while advancing to writing speeches for the president himself. Along the way he encountered some wonderful people, some not so great people and had some wonderful, amazing adventures. Litt makes a public service career both terrifying and inspiring all at the same time. For those of us who loved the TV show The West Wing, Litt shows how reality is often different from our fantasies. This is a great book for those of us intrigued by politics and how government really works, as well as shows us who makes it work.
    • 2/5
      yes thank you Obama for screwing this country over. Good job.

      1 person found this helpful