It’s difficult to look at Harper Reed’s work without looking at the dialogue surrounding it, which is an unfortunate side effect of its impact. The former CTO of Obama for America 2012, Reed is an overtly-contemporary figure in a disarmingly slowly-moving field, and his youthful understanding of the interconnectedness of digital life is often cited when explaining the underpinnings of Obama’s electoral success. The gauges, mohawk, and handlebar mustache simply add to the myth, that of the hacker-cum-reformist who turned the campaign world upside down with a few lines of code.