Tommy Vietor ’98
The new part is the office in the White House
T
ommy Vietor ’98 claims that the new thing about his job as assistant press secretary in President Barack Obama’s press office is really the location of the office itself. “When you take a left to go to your office and the Oval Office is to the right, you don’t ever get used to that,” he says. “President Obama, his ideals, his approach to communication and to engagement with people, are remarkably consistent,” Tommy says. “You can see all of that in his book of more than a decade ago.
care, Tommy determined that politics was his field of choice. He transitioned to John Edwards’ presidential primary campaign for the 2004 election, and went to Raleigh, North Carolina, then Iowa, then New Hampshire. After John Edwards lost to John Kerry, Tommy turned down a job at the Kerry campaign, or as he puts it, “held out” for a job with the Obama campaign for the
“I am working with teammates from the campaign, a great group of people who have known one another and worked closely together for a very long time. Therefore we have great working relationships; we complement each other, work very hard, and have fun while we work.” Tommy’s path to the White House press office includes some Tommy Vietor’s office is right down the hall from President Obama’s: “You don’t ever get used to that,” Tommy says. coincidence and lucky timing, but those elements were not the Senate. He was deputy press secretary shapers of his arc. Tommy was “transfi xed” by Barack Obama in 2004, and he during Obama’s Senate campaign, then acknowledges a relentless determination was promoted to press secretary for the to work on the Obama team at that time. new senator. Tommy was onboard, in other words, for Obama’s pivotal speech Starting after college as an intern in at the 2004 Democratic Convention. Senator Edward Kennedy’s office, concentrating in labor policy and health
The next stop was Iowa, the crucible state for Obama’s strategy of engagement, and the foundation for the long trek to the presidency. Tommy was Obama’s press secretary in Iowa. “That year in Iowa, the opportunity to spend that time with close friends working so hard and watching a movement swell up from nothing to an army of volunteers that went all the way to the White House—to have a front-row seat at history—was an extraordinary experience.” After the win in Iowa, it was back to Chicago, and Tommy worked on rapid response through the primaries and until the general election. Political work has plenty of niches for different skill sets. What made communications the right match? “It was probably my willingness for, and enjoyment of, argument,” Tommy ventures. “There’s also something to be said about the kind of education Milton provides, and about liberal arts more broadly. I was a philosophy major in college—not a major that prepares you to make big bucks—but I did develop an ability to figure out what the salient points are.” The White House press office is not like the campaign press office, despite the consistency of the players. The
Milton Magazine
7