President Obama takes the long view, considers the odds in any decision, sees both sides of the story, doesn't particularly like schmoozing—ring a bell? David Remnick's New Yorker profile won't exactly change your view of the president, but it does offer a few news nuggets, like the fact that Michelle is already writing a memoir and the president will write one after leaving office. Among Obama's better quotes:
- On marijuana: It is "a bad habit and a vice," he says, but "I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol." Also, it's not fair that minority kids are punished for smoking it "when some of the folks who are writing those laws have probably done the same thing."