I recently came across Nathaniel Hawthorne's haunting short story "Wakefield," and I couldn't help but notice similarities (and differences) between Wakefield and President Obama. In "Wakefield," a man tells his wife he is leaving for a short trip, but instead, he moves in to a rental home a block away, where he remains for 20 years, unbeknownst to his wife and friends. At the end of this period, he waltzes right back into his house "as from a day's absence, and became a loving spouse till death." Perhaps at first Wakefield isn't sure why he left. He could be...