I wrote the other day about the Staff Ball on January 21 at which President Obama thanked the campaign staff that helped him win the White House. I want to write a bit more and post some video I took because it was really an extraordinary moment to see the President express his gratitude to the campaign staff. And it was also a perfect gift to the staff, as was the entire ball, which was without a doubt the best party I’ve ever attended.

I was only part of the campaign’s staff for the general election, so I can only imagine what this moment must have felt like for the people who had worked full time for Barack Obama from the very beginning. Having spent three months working non-stop (7 days a week, 12 hours a day at least) without a day off, I got a taste of the incredible amount of hard work that went into this campaign. For instance, I believe my field director only took 7 days off in 18 months. The folks who spent almost two years on this campaign put a large part of their lives on hold and many made significant sacrifices to help elect Barack Obama President. So the President’s thanks was much appreciated. We truly were “The happiest people that just lost their jobs,” as Win Butler of Arcade Fire put it.

I used my digital camera to record this speech so I apologize for the shaky image. Also, I only have a few minutes of a 15 minute long speech. But, hey, something is better than nothing, right? And notice the President’s shout-out to this blog at the end of his speech ;-)