What happens when a former White House speechwriter, who’s written for presidents and packed auditoriums, decides to humble himself in a cold New Jersey lineup at 35?

David Litt isn’t your typical surf author. He joined the Obama White House at just 24 and became one of the youngest senior presidential speechwriters in history, crafting remarks on healthcare, climate change, and even comedy for the Correspondents’ Dinner. After publishing Thanks, Obama and Democracy in One Book or Less, he turned his attention to something far less controllable than politics: surfing.

In this episode, David brings a writer’s precision to the chaos of learning to surf as an adult, articulating the fear of hold-downs, the shame of kook moments, the obsession with progression, and the addictive pull of those brief, otherworldly flashes of flow. It’s a refreshing take for surfers: not from a prodigy, not from a lifelong local, but from someone who can actually put words to what most of us only feel.

3 benefits you’ll gain

A deeper understanding of why surfing feels “more than a sport,” and how chasing flow reshapes your mindset in and out of the water.
Practical perspective on fear, embarrassment, and adult progression, especially if you didn’t grow up in the ocean.
A renewed appreciation for the lineup as neutral ground, where politics, profession, and identity fall away, and only waves (and humility) matter.

Hit play for a thoughtful, funny, and surprisingly relatable conversation that will leave you seeing your own surfing journey, and your next paddle out, in a whole new light.

https://www.davidlittbooks.com

Michael Frampton: are you still surfing?

David Litt: Yeah, I mean, right now I'm in Washington, DC but I was in New Jersey just a couple of days ago and I was out, , actually with my brother-in-law.

We, we went out and it was,, good. , It's gotten cold, but it's also gotten less crowded, so it kind of works out. Right. That's the, that's the trade off in Jersey is in the winter, the crowds go away, but , every time you get. You know, you take a set on the head, you have the worst ice cream headache of your life.

Michael Frampton: Yeah. It gets cold there. All right. Like really, really cold. Yeah.

Ice floating down the Hudson and , into the sea. ,

David Litt: I think the coldest I've surfed in is probably like 35 degrees. , So what, that's something like. Zero or one.

Michael Frampton: Yeah.

David Litt: Chelsea

Michael Frampton: just

David Litt: doesn't, doesn't get much

Michael Frampton: colder.

Really?

David Litt: Yeah. It's basically ice cold. Although it is, it's one thing that I like about surfing on the East coast in the US is one way you can kind of prove that you belong is if you're a new surfer, you don't necessarily need. Skill, if you're willing to show up when it's really miserable out right.

You get a certain kind of respect just for being there. , And you get more respect if you can actually surf. I've heard. But, , hopefully , I'll discover that firsthand one day soon.

Michael Frampton: Yeah. Well, surfing is a, it's a hard sport. ,

David Litt: I, I think it's one of those things, if I had known how difficult.

Surfing is when I started, I definitely would not have started, , especially at 35 years old. So I'm really glad that I had no idea because I, I've gotten so much out of it. But if I had known how difficult this was gonna be, I never would've signed up for it in the first place.

Michael Frampton: So when was the point, like the tipping point of that?

Because obviously you were motivated to start and then you got to a point where you're like, oh man, this is how you must have, there must have been times where you thought, I'm just gonna give up.

David Litt: Yeah, some of it I think is the cliche, right? That first wave you catch, even if it's just you're in the whitewater and you look back on it a few years later and you're like, maybe that was all of four or five seconds.

But there's something pretty remarkable about it, and I think what I really fell in love with quickly was that sense that when you are. Up on a board, you're like in a different dimension, right? I always feel like it's almost like a, like a door to Narnia opens up, right? It's just this different place.

And I started surfing at a time in my life where I was pretty, I, I just kind of gotten out of, or was maybe getting out of the only real episode of true depression that I've ever gone through. And it was really, uh, it was really tough. I mean really, really tough. And so I think the idea of being somewhere else was more attractive than ever.

And. That absolutely hooked me in, right? That feeling of, okay, you're up on the board, that you're in this entirely new reality. And then. The ride ends and you're like, how do I get back there? Right. That was a big part of it. And I think the other thing honestly was I was surfing with my brother-in-law.

He's a good surfer. I knew I was gonna see him for the rest of my life, and I knew that if I chickened out, he would kind of judge me for it. And I was like, I cannot let that happen. And that was a very powerful motivator, right? I talked to other people who learned to surf as an adult without a family member who was always gonna kind of roll their eyes a little bit if they gave up.

And I don't know how they do it.

Michael Frampton: Yeah, well I think it comes back to that, that original flow state that you felt and you connected with the ocean and your mind went blank for, you know, a few seconds on that ride. And it's that feeling that we, that we chase, it's so much more than a sport.

David Litt: Yeah, absolutely.

I think it was one of the hardest things in the book actually, because you, you don't wanna call surfing a sport 'cause that seems to diminish it, but then you don't quite know, there's not enough other words to dis, you don't wanna say an activity or a hobby or what, weirdly. Right. Writing a book about surfing, there are lots of challenges, but one of the biggest challenges was when you're describing the category of things that surfing falls into, what do you call it?

And I don't even know that I succeeded in that. I think sometimes I just. Said, okay, I'll call it a sport in this sentence. And then, you know, but it was, , every time I did, I felt like it's like, ah, no, it's not quite doing it justice. Right.

Michael Frampton: Mm. That's, I think it's, that's part of the allure of surfing.

David Litt: Mm-hmm.

Michael Frampton: I like to describe, I think it's an art, , simply.

David Litt: Yeah. Well, you haven't seen me surf, but yes, it can be. I've certainly seen people surf and think that's, that's, you know, and it is a, it's a. It is a for people whe...

135: From Presidential Speechwriter to Surfer – David Litt