Quote

I'm a big Michael Lewis fan. That said, my favorite Lewis book was 'The Blind Side.'

From time to time, just about every 'Vanity Fair' writer has a chance to sell rights to an article or a book to Hollywood.

The first bill that President Obama signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. I think it says something about his priorities that the first bill he put his name on has my name on it too. As he said that day with me by his side, 'Making our economy work means making sure it works for everyone.'

Those quotations were really quite obscure. Anyone can see that he is a very well read man.

I remember Michael saying, 'Rich and famous? It's much better to be just rich'. I didn't quite get it to begin with. But he's right. You lose anonymity. I say to my family that you've no idea until you lose it how precious anonymity is.

The hoary joke in the literary world, based on 'Dreams From My Father,' was that if things had worked out differently for Barack Obama, he could have made it as a writer.

To be occasionally quoted is the only fame I care for.

The 'Vanity Fair' article was interesting to do because it was the first time I ever really had the opportunity to be absolutely truthful with a reporter about every aspect of my life.

Obama's the one who never worked a day in his life. He never earned a penny that wasn't public money. How many fund-raisers does he attend every week? How often does he play basketball and golf? I wish I had that kind of time.

Barack Obama is an elegant and literate man with a cosmopolitan sense of the world. He is widely read in philosophy, literature, and history - as befits a former law professor - and he has shown time and again a surprising interest in contemporary fiction.