Chuck Todd, the chief White House correspondent for NBC News, is working on a book about President Obama that's slated for publication in April 2014.
The project got attention Friday as several journalists tweeted an Amazon listing for "The Stranger." (Not that one).
But the idea that Todd would write a book on Obama's presidency has been around for years.
In June 2009, the New York Observer reported that Todd sold a book proposal on the "first few years" of Obama's presidency that would focus especially on the president's relationship to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The book was expected to hit shelves in mid-2012, in the heat of a presidential election.
Todd told HuffPost over email that the earlier book project "evolved" over the years. He said the Obama-Clinton relationship "just seemed too small of a topic" and will now be woven into the broader narrative. Todd said he'd "rather tackle the larger subject" in the book.
And that subject will be, according to the description on Amazon:
Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008 partly because he was a Washington outsider. But when he got to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, that distinction turned out to be double-edged. While he'd been a brilliant campaign politician, working inside the system as president turned out to be much more of a challenge than Obama had ever imagined.
In THE STRANGER, NBC Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd draws upon his unprecedented inner-circle sources to create a gripping account of Obama's tumultuous White House years. In doing so, not only does Todd give us the most revealing portrait yet of this fascinating president and his struggles, but illuminates what "Obamism" really is, what the president stands for, and how his decisions have changed--and will change--American politics for generations.
Todd confirmed the book's title and publication day of April 22, 2014 and described the effort as a "labor of love," with the "emphasis on labor." Todd joked that he worked on the Obama book "in my 'free' time."