Great work boss. You crushed it.
Overcome by emotion, former Obama aides gushed over their former boss and his dramatic speech to the Democratic National Convention as he passed the baton of his presidency to Hillary Clinton.
“Tonight POTUS gave the best speech of his life and he gave it for Hillary Clinton,” former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Alyssa Mastromonaco wrote on Twitter with the hashtag “#thatsAmericabitches.”
“I love the man and I’ve been with him for a long time,” Obama’s campaign chief David Axelrod said on CNN immediately after the speech, “The reason that I was so attracted to him is because in those big moments, he was able to rise up and speak about what is so great about this country and when the country most needed it and this was a big moment.”
Axelrod described Obama’s speech as transformative and said he was enormously proud of his former boss.
“We’re in the midst of a very difficult, acrimonious campaign, and he lifted this room up and I think he lifted the country up with this speech,” he said.
“Obama alum more nostalgic tonight than every line that ever appeared on a Matlock episode,” wrote former Obama campaign aide Ben LaBolt on Twitter.
“Thanks Obama (seriously),” wrote former Obama Senior Advisor Dan Pfieffer on Twitter.
On CNN, Pfieffer admitted that many Obama alumni had gathered at the convention to watch the speech together.
“It was emotional to think about you know, 12 years ago he gave the speech, changed the direction of his life and the country and about a decade ago he picked up a bunch of us to go on that ride with him,” he said.
Former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, who now works for Uber, agreed.
“Barack Obama’s pride, love and awe for all the volunteers and organizers who elected him twice to the White House was a wonderful moment,” he wrote on Twitter.
“More than once. Blessed we are. Privilege of my life – working to elect Barack Obama,” wrote Johanna Maska on Twitter, the White House Director of Press Advance who now works at the Los Angeles Times.
She also praised Obama for laughing at his own jokes.
“That laugh — when the President finds something he says funny — that laugh I’ll remember forever,” Maska said. “So lucky I heard it so close for so long.”
Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau was almost speechless during the speech.
“That’s our President,” he wrote briefly on Twitter last night.
The morning after, however, Favreau praised Obama’s skills during an interview on CBS Morning.
“I think his skill is story telling and not just like individual anecdotes. Every speech from beginning to end tells a story, it wasn’t just a collection of applause lines,” he said.
Favreau, who was brought back to help Obama with the speech, explained that Obama himself wrote the line comparing Trump with dictators and terrorists.
Favreau was joined by Pfieffer, who argued that Obama did not take Trump’s attacks personally, but admitted that the billionaire presidential candidate made him angry.
“The thing I see the president is what makes him the most mad when someone in a position of power kick down those who aren’t in power, whether it’s Muslims, immigrants, women, he sees that and takes it upon himself to fight for them,” Pfieffer said. “And you can feel the passion in what he has said about Trump’s views and how he’s framed this election.”
Another former speechwriter, Jon Lovett also appeared lost for words.
“What a speech this is,” he wrote on Twitter before, adding shortly “USA” and “Barack Obama has been a great President.”
As Hillary Clinton took the stage with his former boss, he shared a bold prediction.
“She’s going to win,” he wrote.
The next morning, many of the aides were still reveling in the speech, including Mastromonaco
“Who else is feeling pretty good about America this morning?!?” she wrote, and added, “(Aside from the crying hangover).”
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