The fantastical will to lie at every moment is a pathology beyond comprehension to the normal mind. Obama denies ever knowing his uncle in Boston, denies he ever stayed with him when he was a student. Roger Simon discusses this improbability and takes it further. Who is this man, the President of the United States?

Around Obama there is an unprecedented silence, almost a media omertà. So much remains unknown about this man, although we do know, through the debate surrounding David Maraniss’s failed and tentative biography, that the president lied about his personal history on multiple occasions in his autobiography Dreams from My Father.

He, of course, lies when the truth will cause him harm, but he also lies when it should make no difference. Now he admits he lied about living with his uncle, although no one in the media describes it quite like that:

The White House said Thursday that President Barack Obama briefly lived with an uncle who faced deportation from the United States, correcting its previous statements that the president had never met Onyango Obama.

The 69-year-old, Kenyan-born half-brother of Obama’s estranged father was granted permission this week to stay in the U.S. after ignoring a deportation order two decades ago. The uncle is also known as Omar Obama.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said that when the case first arose, officials looked for records of a meeting but never directly asked the president.

A wilderness of mirrors.