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Q&A

Where have you been?

In early November 2008 I was in Cairo with the ICANN board.  It was my last meeting on the board, and I remember thinking that my life was about to change.

It did, but in a surprising way.  I got a ping from someone on the Obama-Biden transition team, and when I returned the call at 3am (following some typically endless private ICANN board meeting before the public meeting) I was completely surprised and pleased to be asked to work on the FCC transition with Kevin Werbach.  I was so far away, it was the middle of the night, and the election in the U.S. had been such an exciting event - my head was spinning.  I had had no involvement in the campaign and zero expectation of such a call to DC.

So I left Cairo at the end of the ICANN meeting feeling out of breath.  The transition had set up in an anonymous building in DC, and I soon started spending every day there and at the FCC.  Somehow I finished my class at Michigan (sorry, students).  I kept my head down and worked with as much focus and intensity as I could summon.  I was genuinely grateful to get the chance to help nudge the FCC towards a better future.

Towards the end of the transition period I was offered and accepted a job as a Special Assistant to the President for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy on the National Economic Council staff.  So for the past year that’s where I was - in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the West Wing.

Was it fun?

People always ask this question, so I’m going to address this vital issue head-on: Yes, it was fun, in the unbelievably-intense-let’s-get-a-lot-done sense.  When a new administration arrives in town, the political appointees aren’t yet in place at the agencies.  For those of you who have worked in startups, this was like that.  There was a great deal to do, as quickly as possible, and resources were incredibly limited.  Fun.  Very entrepreneurial.

What impressed you?

I was impressed by the quality of the people I worked with on the White House staff - the vast majority of them were skilled, practical, collegial, and doing their best at all times.  I was impressed by several of the Secretaries with whom I came in contact.  There are good, smart people all over the administration, trying their best against almost impossible odds.

What did you learn?

Studying the operations of government gives you about as much knowledge about how government actually works as studying a map of a city gives you information about what it’s actually like to live there.  Those on the “outside” can’t really understand until they’ve been “inside,” and I’m glad I got the chance.  I got a lot done.  It was a good year.

Why just a year?

I was always on the Michigan teaching schedule for January 2010 because I had promised the dean that I would be gone just one year.  It was a tumultuous time - I had arrived in Ann Arbor in September 2008 for my new job, and (effectively) disappeared two months later.  At one point I had a house in Ann Arbor, an apartment in New York City, and an apartment in DC - no chance I could afford all of those locations.  Eventually I rationalized the situation a little, becoming a houseguest in DC (for many months, thanks!) and remotely closing up my Ann Arbor place and putting everything in storage - I couldn’t even get away to participate in the moving process.  A year was right for me.

Will you be blogging again?

Here I am.  Yes.  I have missed having this daily opportunity to write.  I feel as if I’ve been in touch with many people - one of the things you do in the White House is hold a lot of outreach meetings.  But we have a lot of work to do together.  So I’ll be blogging, tweeting (@scrawford), and keeping in constant contact.  Send me your thoughts, either by comments here or via email to scrawford at scrawford dot net.

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