You could ask about obama as an author. I think one of them is sort of is this obama guy for real, right . I mean, you know, we see him, hes this kind of no drama obama, the cerebral, low blood pressure, comfortable in his skin sort of aloof, kind of comically reasonable alpha male, right . But then theres this other literature out there where hes this, you know, kind of insane rightwing socialist leftwing socialist. [laughter] that in the rightwing literature. And then even in the mainstream hes often kind of this feckless, bumbling, cant do anything right guy whenever the economy is bad and his Approval Ratings are bad. My sort of spoiler alert is that in my book the obamas kind of that same guy you read about. The sort of leftofcenter technocrat, pragmatic, dataoriented, kind of this biracial nate silver with some swag, i guess. [laughter] you know, hes you know, i dont want to undersell. I do tell some fun obama stories, right in and in october 2008 after Lehman Brothers collapsed and the Mccain Campaign was imploding along with it, obama quips to one of his advisers are we sure its too late to hand this pile of crap to mccain and the party that created it . [laughter] and the adviser says, yeah, yeah, t probably too late. Its probably too late. And obama goes, well, at least were buying low. [laughter] not low enough, as it turned out. And in december when his economic aide, christy roamer, she called in with the first jobs report, and she couldnt resist, im so sorry, mr. President elect, the numbers are just horrible. He says, oh, you know, its not your fault yet. [laughter] and another time a little later in the Administration David axlerod is in the oval office with him, and he goes, gosh, you know, i wonder what it would be like to govern in good times, and obama just laughs and goes, are you kidding . In good times we never would have got the job. [laughter] anyway, but he kind of, he kind of is what he is, and its sort of what he presents it to be. I guess question number two about obama would be, well f hes this sort of if hes this sort of sane, grounded, sort of leftofcenter but not let the perfect be the enemy of the good guy but, you know, kind of knows who he is and just goes around trying to do the right thing, i mean, how did he get this way, right . Because if you read his autobiography, he was this kind of tortured soul, right . Alienated, obsessed with questions of identity. And the answer to that question is, i dont know, read maraniss book. [laughter] today i dont pretended to come up with some new psychological theory of the man, and that is why god invented david, to do the digging about how this alienated guy ended up so normal. Im sort of interested in question number three which is what did he do . Um, i had in this kind of unusual notion that the way to understand obama and his policies and his successes and, you know, his kind of strange inability to market his successes was to just sort of look at what happened and kind of where the money went. So i do, you know, the book, i use the stimulus of the sort of microcosm of the obama era, and the stimulus has become this incredible joke in washington. I dont think i could have written this book if i still lived there. I mean, its just, its 800 billion worth of levitating trains to disneyland and mob pew seems and honeybee insurance, and just the idea of taking it seriously shows you just dont get it, youre kind of not in on the washington narrative. I remember trying to pitch my editors at Time Magazine a story about how, you know, the stimulus was sort of more than, more than meets the eye, and i dont know, did you guys watch the newsroom on hbo . I felt like i was the blogger kid trying to pitch the story about how bigfoot is real, right . [laughter]. Is the lot better than losing 800. He really does turn on if you look at the economic studies done, this recovery could prevent the discussion and the recession. A quarter task turned out to be the biggest improvement in 30 years. Sort of part of the story. But he was known as the american recovery of investment that do what i found most interesting to jumpstarting this recovery was that the stimulus related again this longterm investment. It is by far the Largest Energy bill in the history country. The stimulus poured and 90 billion, just complete game changer for when, solar and other renewables, Energy Efficiencies in every imaginable form. I get caught for saying nice things, electric vehicles, advanced biofuels, Clean Energy Resource center elegies of tomorrow in factories to build this staff in the United States. Not just energy, but the stimulus is going to drag our antiquated Health Care System into the digital era said that your doctor might not kill you with his Chicken Scratch handwriting. By 2015, every american will have an Electronic Medical record from which really should improve care and reduce cost and as a down payment on health care reform. This included the most ambitious education reform in decades. Had the largest Infrastructure Investments since eisenhower. The Largest Research investment after. The largest lowcost tax cut since reagan went to more than 95 of the country and less than 10 country noticed it. But in my book i do try to get deep into the bowels of the white house and the backgrounds of capitol hill, but also to be a fly on the wall on the Energy Department weatherization division, actually known as the turkey farm. Add to the local highspeed real meetings in the Central Valley where i saw obama called it replaced. I did spend some time in that way to think hes too fancy sillinger factory factory, to. But my novel approach was to try and figure out what hes doing. Another spoiler alert here, but the most important thing you should know about obamas a mostly try to do what he said he would do. He came into office at this and usually welldefined theory and a straight up with that. To guard this. His kid and agenda in 2008 to attract a lot of attention in the media was obsessed with his racing crazy pastor and funny ads comparing him to paris hilton, but mostly the standard democratic agenda of reversing the bush era and a missing feature. Obama cares about policy, but its not a policy entrepreneur. The original campaign wasnt really about new ideas. It is about the of change in this aspirational weekend they been abandoned, the sense that the sky would follow through on the old ideas that never seem to go anywhere. I was on a panel in boston before the election with a guy named Charlie Baker who is a republican. He ran for governor in 2010 and got he said they develop patcher. Develop patcher. He read my book instead is take away was to serve, whether youre on the right or left. And i think thats an implicit message of this book. I get asked all the time how did obama skewer politics about . Have Computer People think the stimulus created sharpes didnt think of this is still alive, which is actually true. I always first of all say this black guy whose middle name is hussein and got himself elected president of the United States didnt make him an on january 20, 2009, but he did this unbelievably unpopular stimulus. They make it an even more unpopular bailout and health care reform. He stood on his cultural things from ending the war in iraq, doing stuff in afghanistan, getting us into libya. Hes making statements about gay marriage. Gets involved in capandtrade in affronts analyst and politics of it. It turns out in a 50 50 nation his Approval Ratings are 50 and he got himself elected a second time, which i do try to remind people, do stuff. Politicians spend so much time antagonizing other political ramifications of everything, which is understandable. I tell him agonizing story about how politics of tax cuts got screwed up so badly rahm emanuel if they would need to have this at mcmahon moment, the publishers clearinghouse squeal of pleasure where you open your check from barack. I do quote and talking about how that ways. But the fact is he was focused on trying to get stuff done he said he was going to do. Im going to be just a little bit from the book. A lot of people expect the attack about obama versus republicans, especially now because i described a republican conspiracy to destroy obama before he even took office. But im going to talk a little about obama versus hillary from 2008 because i think it helps explain the last four years. The case for obama was not a substantive case for changing policy. Hillary was making a similar case of the better resume. The case for almost a political case for my policies never seem to change. Template hillary was part of the problem, that america can afford another decade of clinton wars, political pettiness and nastiness that exploded during the clip or a list of fundamental obstacle to fundamental change. Hillarys oneword explanation for persistence of the status quo was republicans. Obama says washington, the endless spin cycle, insult industries and platitudes that hightech choices and common sense to compromise impossible. As a symbol and participate, hillary was inextricably linked to the washington gridlock machine. The bickering and parsing, the eternal boomer driven vilification of the 60s. The case for hillary wishing you how to fight republican, she was comfortable in the mac. The case for obama was taken to politics beyond the mac. But upon his ideas of change in politics brought as a means to the end. In springfield he listed the four main problems he was running to solve. A dependence on oil that threatens our future. A health care crisis, schools were too many children arent learning and families struggling paycheck to paycheck despite working as hard as they can. He argued Real Solutions would be impossible until washington to beyond those noise and rage. That stopped us remaining challenges is not the absence of sound policy and sensible plan. Without this is failure of leadership. The ease with which were distracted by petty and trivial. Chronic avoidance of tough decisions come a preference for cheap political points in several inaccuracies in building a working consensus to tackle big problems. That was the essence of obamas case against hillary. And that was wrong. It turned out it was possible to make progress on longterm problems, even while washington remained distracted by petty and trivial. The proof is in the recovery act. Obama took office during an economic cataclysm and decided during an emergency change in the country is more important than the capital. Change requires 60 votes in the United States senate. So the central drama of this book, literally the central section of the book is how obama pushed out the change into the timor country be for most of the staff have located the bathrooms in the west wing. It was unclean and was in pretty because rahm emanuel is in the middle of it so wasnt suitable for young ears, but the will debate is a case study and obama is on. To the disillusionment addict of the left and i apologize to those of you remember him come out of their current obama was about like every other politician, more interested in cutting deals and chasing dreams into the fever swamps on the right to know about obama as the euro socialist radical republicans never explained how the 716 billion in spending stimulus that even paul ryan supported well above the 787 tax and spending stimulus was crushing status and in the deaths of American Free enterprise. Thats the beauty of the minority. The stimulus is early evidence obama was but he said he was, this data oriented left of center technocrats above all privatized. It is the first evidence after campaigning as they change the system outsider, he would govern as they were persistent insider. Despite the flowery talk he understood those that dont Pass Congress dont produce change. The stimulus producing change in iraq but obama was he was the worst guy, turns out hes more of a deep sky. Not producing perfection, but its making things better and better is better than worse. Before the stimulus, 20 . Receives juiciest Electronic Medical records. We wont have to fill out pages of paperwork or atomic go to the doctor. Will reduce our costs and improve care. Stimulus directly lifted 7 million americans out of poverty and reduce poverty for another 32 million americans who are already poor. The Homelessness Prevention program had 1. 2 Million People off the street or the Homeless Population declined in 2009. The half ended up homeless, the population wouldve doubled. An obscure program called build america financed 180 billion of local infrastructure projects. This is stimulus tucked in a stimulus. They did much a Clean Energy Revolution that i talk about in the book. It doubled renewable power, created a domestic Battery Industry for the trip vehicles entirely from scratch, jumpstarted the smart grid and has reduced dependence on foreign oil to the lowest level since 1995. Of course all you hear about is the cylinder scandal, which isnt even the scandal. Its supposed to symbolize a solar power is in a rush, the solar installations have increased more than 1000 since 2009. Look, im going to write that. I know what i want to hear david. The economy is still struggling and obama and the recovery act have not lived at to the initial hay. Nothing in life except parapet lives up to the hype. [laughter] the question was settled the is are you better off than you were four years ago . Compared to the economy falling off a cliff in the seat 800,000 jobs a month in being completely dependent on possible fuels and Renewable Energy rounding error in having two doctors unable to look at the same file without being in the same room. For a little bit better off. [applause] if you want to understand the obamas first four years, i dont think you can do better if she read the books by michael and neil, two brilliant guys who base their writing on facts and common sense and sharp analytics. So im happy to be here with them. I love this mother of all book festivals and im delighted to be back here again. Its a terrific job and always reinvigorating for any author to come to miami and see so many thousands of people who love books. Barack obama is my 10th book in every four years since 1984 i had the same at the Washington Post to try to figure out someone who might be president. I started the process of the clinton, turning it into a book. So theres an assumption when i read about her obama in 2008, an assumption by my friends and colleagues that i would immediately launch into a biography of barack obama. I have to say doing it was one of the more difficult decisions ive made in my career and had nothing to do with barack obama. But what i considered the increasingly toxic nature, superficial nature of modern american politics and i wasnt sure i wanted to spend three or four years trying to get the true story and throw that into the mob of this culture, knowing there would be people who could manipulate any fact internet for their political purposes, which to some extent is what happened early on until i refuse to let it happen anymore. In any case, on Election Night 2008, i decided i had to do this book in the story itself is what destroyed me to it in a way that transcended any concerns about the political culture. This book is really driven by two of my sessions. The first is creation of barack obama, such an utterly random person. Of course everyone in this room, every human being is a man creation. Before barack obama, it seems that much more improbable. Aside as an opportunity not to read about that, but the modern world through stories of the families that led to his creation coming from kenya in kansas and taking me around the world on a journey of more than 45,000 miles to figure that out. The second session was given the contradictions into which he was born, a biracial kid in hawaii in 1961, how did he do with . How did you figure himself out . How did he get to the resource possible to become president of the United States. Its really those obsessions that drove me through this book. I have sort of a mantra that i start every book with and that is go there, wherever there is. So i biography of some birdies at turning to my wonderful wife in entering the immortal words, how would you like to go to green bay for the winter . [laughter] to which she responded, her. But we did in the middle all the difference. To soak up a place in writing does things that dont even show up on the page, the sort of infuse the writing of this since you cant get any other way. Since the time in 1996 and added those words, i did making it up to her ever since. How would you like to move to san juan puerto rico were too wrong to learn about the world of the 1960 olympics . This book more than any other really did take me around the world and a wonderful way, both of us. For the purposes of this discussion, going to focus mostly on the second half of my book, how did you figure it out, how did he overcome contradictions of his life and make it . Im not sure if theres any workers in this room, but ill start with the spurs. August 4, 1961, Medical Center in honolulu. For anyone not to believe he was born there, you have to accept the conspiracy theory. The immigration and Naturalization Services amicus the receipt because they were documenting every step that barack obama senior, his father made. His father was a kenyan student in hawaii on a student visa and the ins did not like the rock upon senior the father because their daddy was a polygamist, which he was. Hed been married in kenya and not divorced. And the mores of 1959 americana, the year he came when their antimiscegenation laws in more than a third of the states in the United States, the ins