#david litt

I’m WHEEZING—

source: Democracy in one book or less by David Litt

Context: Gunning Bedford Jr., constitutional congress, no one took it seriously, most of the delegates didn’t show up for the constitutional congress and 2 delegates from New York left early. So Ham was literally that *asshole*.

Thanks, Obama by David Litt

DOOM (2016)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Chemistry by Weike Wang

Evicted by by Matthew Desmond

Iron Fist Season 2

Over the Garden Wall

Hilda

and yet, I really want to start:

Reset by Ellen Pao

Man in the High Castle Season 3

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami

and I still need to start:

Slow Hand by Phillip Norman

A Former Speechwriter Looks Back On His 'Hopey, Changey' Years With Obama

David Litt was 24 years old and just a few years out of college when he landed a job writing speeches for President Barack Obama — an experience he calls "surreal and completely terrifying."

Though he was initially assigned the speeches no one else wanted to write, Litt eventually became a special assistant to the president and senior presidential speechwriter. His duties included writing jokes for the short comedy routine Obama performed annually at the White House Correspondents Association dinners.

Litt says a lot of those jokes worked because they were coming from the president. "As I re-tell them, I often am reminded of this, because people give me a look like, Really? That was funny? And I'm like, Yeah, you have to hear the president tell it."

Other speeches led to unintentional political controversy. When Litt wrote Obama a Thanksgiving address that neglected to mention God, conservative media criticized the president for the omission. The blowback taught Litt a valuable lesson. "Your job as a speech writer is not just to write good speeches," he says. "Your job is to keep in the back of your mind the fact that there's a whole industry of people trying to take your words out of context — and that's politics."

“So,” POTUS asked, “are we funny?”

This was less a question than an invitation to make small talk. Cody didn’t miss a beat.

“Well, Litt’s pretty funny,” he said, nodding generously in my direction.

A brief hint of confusion crossed the president’s face. He clearly wasn’t sure he’d heard right. But after a moment’s pause, he decided to keep going.

“Yeah,” POTUS said. “Lips is funny.”

As you might imagine, I have replayed this moment frequently in my head. Perhaps I simply misheard the president. Perhaps time has warped my memory. But I don’t think so. I’m fairly certain Barack Obama called me Lips.

-speechwriter David Litt’s memoir Thanks, Obama