David Litt (born September 17, 1986) is an American political speechwriter and author of the comedic memoir ''Thanks, Obama: My Hopey Changey White House Years''. He is currently the head writer/producer for

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's office in

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Biography

Born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in New York City where he attended the

Dalton School The Dalton School, originally the Children's University School, is a private, coeducational college preparatory school in New York City and a member of both the Ivy Preparatory School League and the New York Interschool. The school is located in ...

, Litt attended

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, where he was a member of the Yale Ex!t Players and editor-in-chief of the

Yale Record ''The Yale Record'' is the campus humor magazine of Yale University. Founded in 1872, it is the oldest humor magazine in the United States."History", The Yale Record, March 10, 2010. http://www.yalerecord.com/about/history/ ''The Record'' is c ...

. He first got involved in political speechwriting through an internship with West Wing Writers. He entered the White House in 2011, at the age of 24, and for four years served as a senior presidential speechwriter first to Presidential Advisor

Valerie Jarrett Valerie June Jarrett ( Bowman; born November 14, 1956) is an American businesswoman and former government official, who has been the chief executive officer of the Obama Foundation since 2021. She was the longest-serving senior advisor to U.S. Pr ...

, White House Chief of Staff

William M. Daley William Michael Daley (born August 9, 1948) is an American politician and former banker who served as the 24th White House Chief of Staff from January 2011 to January 2012 under President Barack Obama. Before this, he served as the 32nd U.S. ...

, and ultimately to President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

, including as the lead writer on four

White House Correspondents' Association The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor ...

dinner presentations. Litt has also written for ''

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'' and

McSweeney's McSweeney's Publishing is an American nonprofit publishing house founded by Dave Eggers in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco. The executive director is Amanda Uhle. McSweeney's first publication was the literary journal'' Timothy McSw ...

Internet Tendency. Litt married Jacqueline Kappler on August 4, 2018.

Books

Litt's first book, ''Thanks, Obama'', was a ''New York Times'' Best Seller and was named one of the best books of 2017 by ''

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'' magazine. His second, ''Democracy in One Book or Less'', was released in June 2020. Litt's third book, ''It's Only Drowning, A True Story of Learning to Surf and the Search for Common Ground'', was released on June 24, 2025. The book discusses the author's friendship with his brother-in-law during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Bibliography

* ''Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years'' (

Ecco Press Ecco is a New York–based publishing imprint of HarperCollins. It was founded in 1971 by Daniel Halpern as an independent publishing company; Publishers Weekly described it as "one of America's best-known literary houses." In 1999 Ecco was acquir ...

) * ''Democracy in One Book or Less'' (

)

References

Living people Obama administration personnel American speechwriters American Jews Writers from New York City Dalton School alumni Exit Players alumni Yale University alumni 1986 births {{US-writer-stub