Barack Obama. Curiously, no one from his reputed past has ever remembered him. Shortly after being elected in 2008 a reporter interviewed several hundred former students at the various schools he reportedly attended and not a single person remembered him. No one has ever seen his college transcripts, and of those presumed classmates at Columbia not a one recalls ever seeing or talking to him there. Churchill once characterized the Soviet Union as a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, and that is an accurate description of our current president. There are those who remember him as a child, and those who remember him as an adult, but no one remembers him in the years between. What was he? Who was he? He was and is a phantom figure traveling a circular stair, seen at the bottom and at the top, but not on any of the steps in between.

 They saw him as he climbed the stair
At Punahou that elite school
For kids of Indonesian kings
Who know they have by right to rule
So many risers, many treads
The balusters smooth worn by hands
The distant landing softly calls
The future king of distant lands
And yet as Barry made his way
The carpet registered him not
And those who saw his upward climb
Saw for the moment then forgot
Upon the stair and midway up
The figure dimmed and seemed to glow
With further steps he disappeared
Unseen for good to those below
The landing saw him change his name
As upward strode the Kenyan king
As now in sight the promised land
Within his grasp lay everything
No one at college saw him there
No one remembers him at all
Till at the top, that one last step
Saw him in the mirrored Hall
Passing by them all unseen
Not a motion did reflect
Till before him stood the door
Opening out of respect
In he strode without a pause
Scepter, crown and golden throne
Seated now he looked about
Seeing he was not alone
Visible he was at last
Smiling as the masses knelt
Flowered love lay at his feet
Glorying in tingles felt
But all is not quite as it seems
In Punahou the children there
At times see shadows on the wall
That looks like someone on the stair