Former White House Senior Advisor Dan Pfeiffer (COL ’98) and former Democratic National Committee Director of Communications Mo Elleithee (SFS ’94) sat down Sept. 8 to discuss Pfeiffer’s path to the White House.
The event in Copley Formal Lounge was the inaugural event in the “HIPPSter Series” (Hoyas in Politics and Public Service) of the McCourt School’s new Institute of Politics and Public Service (IPPS). The institute and its speaker series aim to “[reconnect] young people with the notion that politics is a vehicle to public service,” according to the website.
Founder and executive director of the IPPS Elleithee moderated the event and began by asking Pfeiffer to recount his path from Georgetown to the White House.
Pfeiffer, an advisory board member for the IPPS, came to Georgetown with intentions of proceeding to law school. However, after taking a class on the American presidency and meeting a fellow student who was such a successful Clinton campaign intern that the White House hired him at age 19, Pfeiffer was inspired to enter the political world.
As a senior, he interned in the Vice President’s press office. “I loved the adrenaline of the White House and the news cycle…I was hooked, right then and there,” Pfeiffer said. After graduating, he worked for the Department of Justice in a policing initiative of the Clinton Administration and then worked for Vice President Al Gore’s presidential campaign.
After Gore’s loss, Pfeiffer went to work for South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle’s campaign. At the last minute, Daschle unexpectedly decided not to run for President – while Pfeiffer was already en route to BWI airport to fly to the campaign launch in South Dakota. Pfeiffer then turned his car around and went directly to the Georgetown movie theater. “I turned my phone off and watched two movies in a row to figure out what I was going to do with my life.”
He worked on Indiana Senator Evan Bayh’s campaign until he, too, decided against running. “I’ve now been left at the altar by not one, but two presidential candidates,” Pfeiffer joked.
Pete Rouse, former White House chief of staff, approached him to work for the Obama campaign soon after. During his time on the seemingly unlikely campaign, he and the campaign staff took risks, because there was nothing to lose. “Our slogan was WTF, but we didn’t use the acronym.”
Pfeiffer advised Georgetown students to take similar risks, jump into the public service world, and pursue candidates and jobs that inspired them, not just those that seemed like the likeliest paths to success. “Do not overplan your life,” he cautioned. “Pick the job you want now, not the one that [you think] will lead you somewhere good.”
