While many of us show up to work in cubicles tucked within bland office buildings, a chosen group of talented men and women spend long hours toiling for a singularly high-profile boss: the president. They work to enact policy changes and strengthen the bond between the president and the people. They document the world in pictures and help the administration operate like a tightly run ship. They seem perpetually tied to their BlackBerries. And no matter whether they work for a Republican or Democrat, the people employed by the president of the United States share at least one thing in common: A serious commitment to serving the American people. Here, a small selection of some of the bright minds who are currently working for President Barack Obama—what brought them to the White House, their roles, their expectations and their experiences.
JESSE LEE
DIRECTOR OF ONLINE PROGRAMS
What is your role at the White House?
My title is “online programs director,” but given that this is the first New Media department in the White House, we all have to kind of make up our roles on the fly. In practice, I’m the managing editor of whitehouse.gov and the main writer for the blog. I conceptualize and execute a lot of the online engagement from online town halls with the president to the more regular online video chats with senior policy folks. And I also serve as a sort of liaison to bloggers, which means I have one foot in the broader communications and press shops, and am also the main new media contact for other offices in the White House like the Office of Health Reform and the Office of Public Engagement. It’s a lot of hats, but it actually reflects well on how well integrated new media is here, which is a challenge most organizations haven’t conquered yet (we’re not just “the Internet people” as is often the case).
What led you to your current position?
I graduated from college in 2002, another tough economy, and ended up doing paralegal temping for a year and a half. It was kind of a crazy time in politics, though, and I felt very compelled at the time to engage, so I started writing for some online news sites and writing a newsletter that people could download and print out at their workplace, etc., that got up to around 20,000 circulation weekly. That eventually got me a job with the DCCC (the umbrella campaign organization for House Democrats) at a time where a lot of people still looked at Internet politics as an experiment. I did all of the website and e-mail writing there, and started one of the first really popular Democratic Party blogs, getting to know most of the major progressive bloggers. When we took back the House in 2006, I went to work for Speaker Pelosi, where I wrote the first real Speaker’s Office blog and did blog outreach. After almost two years there, I went to work for the DNC for Obama’s election, then worked on the presidential transition, where I got to know the team here and started dabbling in a lot of the cool engagement stuff we were doing through Change.gov.
What would you describe as “a normal day”?
I come in, look over the schedule and send photo requests for the website to the photo office. Twitter out a 140-character summary of the president’s schedule. My boss Macon Phillips or I go to morning communications meetings in West Wing. Help write and/or edit a rapid response blog post on some attack against the president. Go to a cross-departmental meeting on health reform, energy or some other issue. Promote on online video chat on the blog, then put that post out on Facebook and Twitter (“Facetweet” it, as we say). Either moderate or oversee the chat. Have a random meeting. Talk with Macon Phillips about some longer-term engagement project. Blog post on website feature on whatever the president is up to that day. Edit and post a guest post from a Cabinet Secretary or top official. Another random meeting. Go home and respond to BlackBerry throughout the night, logging on to post anything else from home as needed.
How palpable is the sense of history for you in the White House?
Ironically, we hold our online video chats in what used to be the Secretary of War Suite, a handful of almost majestic rooms in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building that have basically been preserved since the secretary of war ceased to exist. Portraits of secretaries from the past hang on the wall, and there’s definitely a sense that the convoluted path from Secretary of War rooms to venues for innovative public engagement through the Internet captures something about the trajectory of this country and its government.
What is your favorite spot in the White House?
The Diplomatic Room. Right after the opening ceremonies of the state dinner with India, I pulled my girlfriend aside to propose to her there. She comes from a big Indian family herself, so it was particularly meaningful to both of us. When we walked out, we saw Bo [the president’s dog] walking on the South Lawn and then passed Secretary Clinton on our way out of the White House, both of which seemed like good omens, somehow. But the spot in that room where I went down on one knee is probably my favorite spot in the White House.
How tough or easy-going a boss is Barack Obama?
Everybody here knows what’s expected of them, and took the job because they’re willing to give everything they have to serve the American people. So demanding hard work from his staff is not something the president needs to do a lot of. In my conversations with the president, he’s been even cooler and calmer than his reputation, never dismisses a point of view, and doesn’t begrudge his grueling and incessant schedule at all.
How have you seen the culture in the White House evolve in the past year?
Most people here, including me of course, have never worked in the White House, and nothing can really prepare you for either the intensity of it or the sheer size of operation. So the biggest change has just been figuring out exactly what it is we all do here and getting into a system where we can all make the most of every day.
Who is the most interesting/memorable person you have encountered in the White House so far?
That might be tie between Norm Eisen, who is special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform, and Valerie Jarrett, who is a Senior Advisor to the President. Norm is lead on the kind of legal transparency stuff, and almost seems made from the perfect recipe of mad genius, joker and idealist to be perfect for the job. Valerie is somebody who is a constant reminder of real life and real humanity outside the White House and outside politics altogether, who is happy to spend just as much time in a one-on-one personal conversation with somebody she happens to meet out on the road as she does helping to negotiate transformational national policy.
Was The West Wing a good primer for work at the White House, or was it a source of gross misinformation?
I never actually watched it until I worked here, even though I’ve consistently met people who said that’s why they started working in politics. In truth I’ve still only seen a couple episodes, but it seems like a lot less new media and a lot less actual hard work than is actually involved.
How do you think the public’s perception of life in the White House differs from the reality?
I’ve yet to meet a single person who isn’t here working for what they believe in, and who doesn’t want first and foremost to utilize whatever talents they have to contribute to making the country better.
What sort of presence does Michelle Obama bring to the mansion?
As dedicated as the president is to his family, the first lady is the overwhelming figure reminding everybody that at the heart of the White House there is a loving family. She is also at least as smart and capable as the president or anybody on his staff, and that in itself is something that makes me proud to work here and work for this president.
How many hours a day do you find yourself having to work?
Maybe 11 hours in the office each day, but hardly an hour has gone by since I started working here that I wasn’t reading and sending e-mails to somebody, easily as late as midnight.
What do you do to try to achieve balance in your life?
There are a lot of dinners out on the weekends, and D.C. has actually become a nice place for that—maybe because there are so many people who only have time to do that as their source of “balance.” My girlfriend is from Manhattan, so we go back there together from time to time and try to travel in general, though even if not as much as we’d like (small town Puerto Rico was a highlight). Beyond that, a little Law & Order, a little Wii, and a lot of our pug Miles go a long way.
So do you wear Reeboks to work?
As a blogger, I’m actually required to wear pajamas to work, and my office was remodeled as a replica of my mom’s basement (which is sad, because it is unfinished and floods in the rain). Just kidding—suit and tie every day, though I have been known to wear brown shoes from time to time.
What do you think will be the biggest change in your life when you finally leave this job?
My years in politics, from helping to take back Congress for the Democrats in 2006, to working for the first woman Speaker (who was both brilliant and treated me like a grandson), to working for a president who truly believes in changing Washington forever, has been very fulfilling professionally. But at some point, there have to be other kinds of fulfillment, and being able to travel extensively, maybe even live abroad, maybe even find some way to work on a patio overlooking the ocean, all sounds pretty nice.