What does it take to land an interview with Philip Roth? A great deal, or perhaps more accurately, very little -- provided you're Tina Brown. Brown, a former editor of the New Yorker and Vanity Fair, is the editor-in-chief of the Daily Beast, which only celebrated its one-year anniversary and is already a juggernaut in the realm of online content. She's clearly blessed with great media instincts -- or at least very good luck.

I revere Philip Roth like no other writer, living or dead. To sit and chat with the reclusive 76-year-old author about everything from his latest (and 30th) book, The Humbling, to the death of the novel would be a thrill. But it's almost as good to watch someone else talk with Roth, who practically never grants interviews. Here he is on the work Barack Obama is doing as president and a professional assessment of the man's literary talent:

Philip Roth on Barack Obama as President and a Writer from The Daily Beast Video on Vimeo.