Word: obama
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Luckily for me, I graduated just as the country began to notice a certain first-term senator from Illinois. Inspired, I headed to New Hampshire to help Barack Obama win the first presidential primary...
...began to help out wherever I was needed. As it turned out, it was lugging suitcases. I became the Obama campaign’s ground logistics coordinator, traveling with Senator Obama everywhere he went. My job was to keep track of the luggage and all the logistical challenges associated with a fast-moving presidential candidate and his entourage of staff and several dozen reporters...
...windy tarmac, nearly lost a luggage truck on a snow-covered mountain pass, and even broke into a carwash after business hours to make sure the campaign’s vans were clean before an important stop. Forty-seven states and 200,000 miles later, Senator Barack Obama became President Barack Obama. I know that being a “bag man” may have some negative connotations, especially in politics, but in this case it was the experience of a lifetime. And to top it off, I finished my job without ever losing a suitcase...
Along the way, I worked with countless other people taking similar risks with their career paths. None of us were making much money or building cachet in the traditional sense, but we were part of the most exciting presidential election in a generation. And when President Obama took the Oath of Office, I was there, standing in the back, helping his senior advisor prepare for the next set of challenges lying ahead...
Over the next few years, I encourage you to try and do the same. Your own path may not necessarily involve working on a long-shot presidential campaign. My boss, David M. Axelrod, worked the midnight shift at the Chicago Tribune, covering car accidents and murders. His boss, President Obama, left a lucrative job in New York to organize communities on the South Side of Chicago. Both men would agree that the unorthodox choices they made early in life gave them insights and experiences they’ve cherished ever since...