Thanks, Obama

July 31, 2017
In this entertaining memoir, Litt recounts becoming, in 2011, one of eight speechwriters for President Obama. Two years later, he held the title “special assistant to the president” and was Obama’s go-to guy for funny lines, with an ever-larger role in the president’s remarks for the annual Correspondents’ Dinner. His career culminated in 2015 with the famous Correspondents’ Dinner featuring “Obama’s Anger Translator,” Keegan-Michael Key’s sketch-comedy character. Litt’s tale shares a starry-eyed sensibility and gratification in personal good fortune—in his case, landing a dream job soon after graduating from Yale—with other accounts published by former Obama staffers. However, he manages to come off as not (too) privileged or self-important, candidly recollecting some of his biggest gaffes as a White House speechwriter (for instance, gravely offending the government and people of Kenya with a single, thoughtlessly written line.) He also does an excellent job describing the genesis and performance of several of Obama’s most powerful speeches, including one made following the Charleston church shootings in 2015: “Then, without warning, he paused, looked down, and shook his head.... Then, softly, the most powerful person on earth began to sing.” Veering between tragedy and comedy, between self-doubt and hubris, Litt vividly recreates a period during which he saw his words sometimes become the words of a nation.

April 1, 2017

At age 24 one of the youngest presidential speechwriters ever, Litt was a special assistant to the president and senior presidential speechwriter when he left the White House in 2016, and he was also President Obama's special comedy writer. With a 60,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2017
President Barack Obama's speechwriter offers his take on an extraordinary tenure inside the White House.There's an interesting subcategory of memoirs emerging from the Obama years. Unlike the heavy hitters from the Cabinet, we're hearing from the young professionals who propelled the senator to power and bore witness to his legacy. They also happen to be some of the funniest workplace comedies on the shelves. In a memoir following closely on the heels of former Deputy Chief of Staff Alyssa Mastromonaco's book, Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? (2017), Litt, one of the youngest speechwriters in the history of the White House, delivers a fast, funny ride through the halls of power. Haunted by the specter of Sarah Palin ("So, how's that whole hopey, changey thing workin' out for ya?"), the author offers a stark contrast in leadership between then and now. Working first for senior adviser Valerie Jarrett before becoming senior presidential speechwriter, Litt admits his impressions were colored by The West Wing: "Like every Democrat under the age of thirty-five, I was raised, in part, by Aaron Sorkin." He reveals what it's like to write four White House Correspondents' Association dinner speeches for the president, and he chronicles some strange encounters with the likes of Scarlett Johansson, Harvey Weinstein, and the comedy duo Key & Peele. But for every White House men's room anecdote or gee-whiz moment ("Air Force One is exactly as cool as you would expect"), Litt offers piercing assessments of the nature of our politics. "Gridlock is an accident, an inconvenience," he writes. "What happened on Capitol Hill was a strategy, and its architect was Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell." His final thoughts, written as the next administration begins its reign, are telling: "But here, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is the single most valuable lesson I learned in public service: There are no grown-ups, at least not in the way I imagined as a kid." President Obama's running question to Litt was, "so, are we funny?" Yes, they are--and insightful, too.

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