In The Fields, at the Cook Shack

Sometimes you've gotta pull back to see what's in front of you...that simple principle works almost every time in writing a book.

If I remember right, it was Malcolm Cowley who said America's literary expatriates had to go abroad to understand America enough to write about it...to see the dragon's scales.

I was discussing with my family recently the importance of politicians having their own escapes, usually a rural hideaway of some sort tucked away from reporters and everyone else.

Our question was, what is Barack Obama's refuge? His Cook Shack? Where does he go to be alone?

I guess that is what makes him such a "post-racial", "post-modern," "international" candidate in the eyes of some. The rootlessness.

It's when that safety valve for a politicians seals up because of time pressure or political defeat or family trouble that problems start to arise...mental ones.