David Axelrod

“The future is not a gift, it’s an achievement. Make it your achievement,” says David Axelrod, a humorous yet whole-hearted man who came to Emen’s auditorium Monday night to speak about leadership on behalf of the Obama administration. Axelrod calls himself one of the “architects of the Obama campaign.” He speaks about Barack Obama with great care.

David Axelrod isn’t just the adviser of President Barack Obama, but he is also a father, a husband, and a tax-payer. He has had experience with his daughter having seizures and not having enough health care to pay for his daughter’s health bills. He had two health care plans, but his daughter was not accepted on the second one because she already had a pre-existing condition. He’s been on both sides of the spectrums. David Axelrod was in awe when he found out that the Obama Healthcare Bill passed.

“Being an American in 1960 is a hazardous occupation,” said John F. Kennedy, “We will choose what path we take.” David Axelrod was inspired by these words and is inspired by many leaders like John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and even a woman with stage-four breast cancer who was a mother and had a family to care for. This woman had exceeded her health care benefits and all she could think about was her family and the debts they may endure after her passing.

Axelrod explains how working in the White House is a great honor. “It’s not the water in the White House that turns their hair gray,” says Axelrod. By saying this, Axelrod is implying that working as a hierarchy does not come without any effort or stresses. “Leadership means fighting through. It means doing stuff that’s greater in the long run for the greater good.”

While working in the White House, Axelrod has had to deal with things like the recession and health care. Axelrod says that Barack Obama handles things very calmly. He says that Obama “doesn’t let fear of failure paralyze him. Leaders under pressure cannot operate out of fear of failure,” says Axelrod.