Hey, it's Michael.

Today, I want to tell you about the latest episode of a podcast hosted by my colleague

from the opinion desk of the Times, call-nosed as recline.

It's a conversation with former President Obama about self-doubt, the art of persuasion,

and what with the benefit of hindsight, Obama believes he got right and wrong during

his two terms as President.

Take a listen.

I'm Ezra Klein and this is the Ezra Klein Show.

So in preparation for this episode, I have spent the last few weeks very deep in the mind

of Barack Obama.

I read his first volume of his presidential memoirs, Promised Land, but I've also been

listening to his podcast and other interviews he's given and reading interviews he's given.

And spending a lot of time there, there are a few things I noticed that really became

the core of this conversation and that I've actually just been struggling with myself

since.

The first is Obama's many-mindedness.

It's almost pathological how much he tries in his memoirs to grant the points of his

critics and even the really unfair points of some of his attackers.

How much he doubts his own motivations and righteousness.

There are times when it almost feels self-lacerating.

When you want to take him aside and say, look, you won the presidency.

You pass the affordable crack.

...