海角大神

President Obama calls it 鈥渢he bubble.鈥� President Harry Truman called it 鈥渢he great white jail.鈥� And President Bill Clinton called it 鈥渢he crown jewel of the federal penitentiary system.鈥�

They were all talking about the constraints of living in the White House, which is the topic of Kenneth Walsh鈥檚 new book, out Wednesday by Paradigm Press. The book is titled 鈥淧risoners of the White House: The Isolation of America鈥檚 Presidents and the Crisis of Leadership.鈥�

In it, Walsh, a veteran White House correspondent for US News and World Report, plumbs the seclusion of life at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. for a long line of US presidents and, along the way, drops some interesting details on Obama鈥檚 personal struggle in 鈥渢he bubble.鈥澛�

鈥淏arack Obama has said that the hardest thing about being president is staying in touch with 'the flow of everyday life,'鈥� Walsh tells USA Today. 鈥淎nd he has admitted that one of the biggest mistakes he made during his first term was confining himself to the White House too much.鈥�

The downside, says Walsh, is that the President is constantly surrounded by a 鈥渃adre of idolizers,鈥� like Chicago friend and confidante Valerie Jarrett and adviser and chief of staff Denis McDonough.

鈥淛arrett has gone too far in limiting others' access to the president, according to a number of White House and congressional sources,鈥� writes Walsh in the book. 鈥淗er goal is to keep Obama in a cocoon of admirers who won't, in her mind, shake him up too much or present views that might be contrary to her understanding of Obama's positions.鈥�

(Though, no surprise, the same could be said of Presidents John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush, he adds.)

The upside, says Walsh, is that the President is on a perpetual mission to escape the isolation of the White House.

鈥淢ore than most recent presidents, Obama has made a sustained personal effort to break out of the bubble...鈥� he says.

How does the President of the United States stay in touch with his roots 鈥� and with average Americans?

In spite of Secret Service protestations, he keeps a personal BlackBerry that he uses to email friends. He does his best to travel outside Washington regularly. And he follows sports, especially basketball and football, 鈥渨hich gives him a break from the tedium and keeps him from obsessing about politics,鈥� Walsh says.

Our favorite: Every evening, the President selects 10 letters from constituents and reads them to his wife.

All in an effort to escape the bubble, which, ironically, Walsh attempts to gain entry to in his 鈥渂ehind the bubble鈥� book.

Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.