and david maraniss, a book on clinton and jacob wrote a book on reagan and david, miraculously mapped to right a 600 page book about obama while attending his day job. and today, i hope-- i know will bring considerable depth to this discussion because they're both journalists, writers and now biographers. now, in terms of the guy that i will call that man, that's what fdr's enemy called him "that man", and i wrote each of the participants and i said why don't we layoff and try to talk about something else and david remnick wrote back, yes, of course, i'll be focusing my remarks on polk and buchanan tonight. [laughter] >> i'll hold to that. but i'm sure that's not how it will turn out. i was at a phone bank a couple of weeks ago, i won't say for which candidate because this is new york, so who knows, but i asked who they were voting for, that's the first question i'd ask and they were supposed to be democrats, but this guy said, no, man, this year we're trumping it. so, i guess we'll be trumping it a little bit. and to preside over this, i invited my hero, leslie stahl, who has spent t

and david maraniss with the eyewash in 10 post or ay whole variety of associations. to have i left out?founde the founder or co-founder mayor also into as legends but to talk about my passion which his biography with those distinguished people that they are all that i recommend to you and jonathan is at work on the biography and david maraniss has written many books and if not the official authorized biographer of clinton and jonathan alter wrote on president reagan and somehow david remnick miraculously wrote a book about obama while doing his day job and i know they will bring considerable because they're most journalist hopes and now biographers.t man so the guy that i will call that man that is what the fdr enemies call him. on tuesday can we talk about something else? so i will hold you to that.how t me but i am sure that is somehow that will play out i was that a phone day a couple weeks ago class today were voting for i am it is supposed to be democrats who he said no this year we trump it. so to preside over theheinvite scottish architect i invited my hero le

david remnick, with his little magazine, and david maraniss with "the washington post" and john alter with a whole variety of associations including "newsweek" and msnbc. and who have i left out? jacob weisberg, the founder or co-founder or ceo of slate. and these people are all known to you as legends. but i wanted to convene them to talk about my passion which is biography so that in addition to being the distinguished people that they are, they've written these astonishing books, all which i recommend to you. jonathan is at work on a biography of jimmy carter right now, author of a distinguished book on fdr. be and david maraniss has written many books and is the, i would say, authorized if not officially authorized biographer of clinton. and jacob wrote a book on reagan, and david remnick somehow miraculously managed to write a 600-page book about obama while tending to his day job. and they, i hope -- i know -- will bring considerable depth to this constitution because they're both journalists, writers and now biographers. now, in terms of the guy that i will call "that man," tha

best selling author and associate editor from the "washington post," david maraniss. olumnist at the washington examiner, kristen soltis anderson. in washington, executive vice president of public affairs at psb research, margie omero. she and kristen are co-hosts of the top rated podcast, the pollsters. you have your hands full, joe. >> david, we have to start with david. obviously, you wrote your remarkable book, first in its class about bill clinton. it's hard to imagine how many years, what, 23. >> 24 years. >> 24 years later. somebody else who is basically first in her class, i mean, could we have ever imagined this at the beginning of that ride? >> it's so improbable. when you think about the meeting in 1971 at yale law school and realizing even then that they might get someplace together that they couldn't get to apart. the fact that they actually achieved it, first him and then her 24 years later makes it all the much more difficult to conceive. >> when you wrote that book, hillary clinton was in many ways as divisive in '93 and '94 as donald trump is now. when

[laughter] that was the -- >> and not long thereafter i got david maraniss' book which is the start of a truly magnificent biography on the part of robert caro on johnson or chernow on many other presidents. my book is not a biography at all, it's really about the theme that i've been writing about a lot of my journalistic life which is race. it's maybe a biography in disguise, there are biographical aspects to it. but it's all about obama and race, and it was also a book written in the shadow of or in light of obama's own them boy which he wrote -- memoir, which he wrote, remarkably, when he was 32. who writes a memoir when they're 32 in especially an obscure state senator? and an examination of what that book itself is, "dreams from if my father," which it comes in a long line of african-american autobiography which is one of the most spectacular and rich genres of american fiction. so there is, it is, indeed, has biographical aspects, but it really is about race. and if you take into consideration the book's original title and john's title, "the promise," i think we're all thinking