Preface

Within three weeks of working for the campaign my entire life had changed. I knew the experience would change me, but I was not ready for the speed at which it would happen.

Campaigns operate in a different world and at an unsustainable pace. There was no settling in and my first day was a eye-opening 26 hours. You operate at 150%, 300mph, and feel the crushing weight of the world on your shoulders. Sure, some of that is self-imposed, but in the end said weight is the only fuel left burning in the tank.

"...like building an airplane in mid-flight..."

Obama staffer on the campaign's tech challenges

To my friends and family

No amount of preparation could have eased this transition. There have been lots of unreturned phone calls, unanswered emails, abandoned Facebook conversations (sorry, Mom), and hundreds of unfulfilled promises. There was a cliff and I definitely fell off it. For those of you who stuck around, it's nice to see each of you on the other side. Thank you for all the congratulations, celebratory drinks, concessionary handshakes, and every "welcome home" and "we're so proud of you."

More apologies might seem excessive at this point, but please accept one more followed by an "I love you." For those of you who didn't stick around, I understand and I miss you.

To Frontend

Cheers to all the late nights, Mountain Mondays, birthday celebrations, high fives, and goodbye hugs. It was a pleasure being your 'shit umbrella' and I am a better man for having known and fought beside each of you. Thank you for making it the best year and a half of my life and, from the bottom of my heart, I wish you all the best of luck.

Obama for America's Frontend Development teamPhoto by Manik Rathee

To Alex1

Alex (Original photo by Gabrielle Plucknette/The New York Times) On the same day I buried an uncle to suicide, Alex collapsed at his desk in our office. It is a day that so many people will never forget and, for me, a day that still feels like it happened only hours ago. July 13, 2012 changed me in very meaningful ways and I will be forever grateful for its perpetual closeness. Perspective can be a powerful motivator—and sometimes we must find it in the most painful of circumstances.

  1. For more about Alex, check out "They Lives They Lived" and "Fragile" and please donate to the Okrent Memorial Grant for Social Justice.

To Obama for America

The campaign certainly amassed a foundation of incredibly talented and driven men and women upon which it built an world-class organization. For every great bit of code I pushed out into the world thousands of others were producing results and products with the same high standards in every corner of our great country. For every average line of code I wrote there was a building full of great developers and engineers around me to help me grow. It was a unique collection of brilliance and determination that filled the seats at Obama's Chicago headquarters and I am profoundly thankful for every second I spent inside its walls.

And now for some name dropping2:

...and all of the other amazing people I forgot to mention.

  1. In no particular order (except Zach—he should be last)

To President Barack Obama

Thank you for being humble, strong, thoughtful, compassionate, funny, just, forgiving, understanding, respectful, accepting, and resilient. Thank you for being a great father, a loving husband, and a noble leader. Thank you for the hug3. Thank you for everything.

  1. The President surprised us and individually thanked (and hugged) each staffer at headquarters the day after his re-election. He also gave this speech. That was the greatest day of my life thus far.

Epilogue

As if the days between September 12, 2011 and November 7, 2012 were not crazy enough, the time since we re-elected Barack Obama has been just as delightfully overwhelming. Since Election Day I've met so many amazing and talented people, tried to reclaim my sleeping schedule, laughed, cried, slept, read, watched, and gladly spent too much time on airplanes.

Now that the oath has been said and the rented tuxedos have all been returned, I could not be more excited to announce my next adventure. Today I officially join an already amazing team at The New Yorker. I have been so lucky to build some really great things for some unbelievable brands and The New Yorker is in a class of its own.

Stay tuned and once again—thank you.

"Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning."

Gloria Steinem