When my mother was an advertising copywriter in the 1960s, she wrote a public service recruiting ad for the Detroit police. The headline was, "It's a dirty, dirty job. You'll love it."
I thought of that when I got an e-mail forwarded to me over the weekend from a summer intern from the Obama campaign: "we think you might know someone who should quit his or her job and come work on the Obama campaign's digital team for the next 15 months."
Writers, designers, creative directors and video people are among those being sought.
"It won't pay very well. The hours are terrible. But it will be the most extraordinary, exhausting, and fulfilling professional experience you or someone you know will ever have," writes Obama for America's Chief Digital Strategist, Joe Rospars.
I get a heart pang, reading that. In early 2008, I was writing to Robert Gibbs begging to write speeches for Obama.
That up-for-anything moment has passed for me, for now.