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PDF versionObama, an Enneagram One, to live the law
Mar. 12, 2009
Editor’s note: The Enneagram, an ancient means of describing nine personality types, began to draw fresh interest in the 1980s. Reactivated by the Jesuits in Catholic circles and popularized by Richard Rohr, it migrated to therapists, coaches and the habitués of retreat houses since. NCR recently asked Clarence Thomson, who has written several books on the Enneagram, using the tool, to assess the personality of Barack Obama and his presidency – and to offer any appropriate advice. His personal assessment follows:
President Obama, in my opinion, is a style One on the Enneagram graph. And while the enneagram is not an exact science, it can offer helpful personality indicators.
Ones, for example, tend to be idealistic, guided by clear convictions of right and wrong, and work oriented.
Every style has certain strengths and limitations. Style One is in one way, unduly humble. Ones have a tendency to erase their personal feelings and unite, almost merge their personal agenda with the demands of an ideal or law or tradition or principle.
If you ask a style One what he thinks, you will get your answer consciously or unconsciously filtered through principles that are larger than themselves and may be inherited from a book or tradition.
It is probably not accidental that Obama would study constitutional law. He will make his decisions based not as much on personal convictions as on the wisdom of the law. He will be a lawyer all day long. He may have some charisma, but he will not be “chatty” or intensely personal. He will have charisma, but not really panache.
Ones have a tendency to erase themselves and over identify with a law or tradition. Because of that, they can become quite self-righteous. Because Ones identify with their tradition, their personal convictions often have the emotional weight of the tradition. It is one thing to say, “I think,” but it is quite another to say “Our tradition/law/church says.” With the weight of the tradition or law behind him, Obama will exude a certitude that can seem arrogant. He will likely be criticized for that. He will make things worse if he gives in to the Oneish tendency to preach. Even as polished an orator as he is, after a while, those who disagree may find the oratory punishing.
Because Ones do not really consult their own preferences as much as the demands of the law or tradition or even custom, they tend to get their self-worth from work. Obama will have detractors but if the Enneagram is any predictor, no one will say he doesn’t work hard. No drama Obama means that he will focus on work without much worry about how, he and even those who work with him feel or think.
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The identification with the law and traditions makes Ones the champions of objectivity: not what do you or I think, what are the facts and what are the rules?
As Ones believe in the traditions and laws, they are often masters of the system. Personal preferences yield to the needs of the system. We saw an early principle: the best person for the job. What was missing was any reference to how good a friend was the personal to Obama. Obama will not likely be charged with cronyism – his objective criteria will prevail.
Ones are idealists and are better critics than they are creators. So Obama will be much clearer about what is wrong than what is right. He will see the possibilities of what might be and then criticize reality in the light of that. This can discourage people who are already trying hard. Obama will have to realize that the most obstreperous senator is doing the best that he can under the circumstances that he sees himself in – things like reelection, party loyalty and at times, limited insight. Obama will see that the senator is “objectively” terribly wrong and not have much inner compassion for the “subjective” conflicts the politician might have.
Obama will have to give lip service to compromise and the political process, but like most Ones, he will have a clear, almost either/or conviction about what is right. He probably won’t do subtle nuanced considerations nearly as well as will be clear about what is right and wrong.
Moral clarity may cost him flexibility. His early stance that he would hire “no” lobbyists was a typical Oneish statement of principle. Then he had to make exceptions. That probably took some persuasion and he most likely decided the person was so valuable that he fit the criterion of “best person for the job,” so he had to compromise.
Obama’s idealism is not based on evidence. It is based on an inner conviction that right can and must prevail. This is a two-edged characteristic. On the one hand, it enabled him to work as a community organizer with defeat scribbled on every wall and etched in every defeated face. He kept going against the evidence. This could get him into trouble if he has a policy that is not working. He may believe that it must work, even against the evidence.
He says he is a pragmatist, but a real pragmatist does not work with the poor; that’s the domain of the idealist. The pragmatist becomes a corporate lawyer, not an advocate for the poor. This ability to keep on trying while failing is admirable on the south side of Chicago, but if he keeps on trying while failing in Afghanistan, that may not be the best idea.
Look for Obama to have rules. Besides the constitution and the laws of the land, his administration will have rules. House rules, procedure rules, written rules and unwritten rules. Ones are governed more by inner rules even than outer ones. Those who work with him will learn those rules quickly – he will make no effort to hide them and in fact will appreciate everyone knowing his inner rules. These are not just preferences or feelings – they are clearer and stricter than that. If he is healthy and has strong people around him, the oval office will be a paragon of efficiency.
Because Ones are governed by inner rules, not emotional surges or suggestions from the latest consultant, we can look for his administration to be quite consistent. He will be as consistent as is politically possible. He will value it more than flexibility or even at times, responsiveness to daily events. He will have more confidence in consistency than any other Enneagram type.
Obama will be not appear to be but will be quite hurt by unjust criticism because he is quite sure he is correct. But besides this, style One is given to considerable self-criticism so criticism from without will echo a long way in. He will know it comes with the turf, but it will hurt anyway. It will not hurt enough to make him change his mind. He may change policies under pressure, in order to get things done, but he will still retain his conviction that he is right. He is right, the law is right, and he knows the law and will govern and be governed by it.
Thomson is author of three books on the enneagram and he has taught and coached the enneagram for nearly two decades.
I don't understand why
I don't understand why partial birth abortion is okay, but murdering a day old infant isn't.
The Enneagram doesn't seem to help. Maybe somebody who knows President Obama's thinking could tell me why.
As a product of Chicago
As a product of Chicago political machine, President Obama and his far-left leaning ideology will prove disastrous for his term in office. Consequently, this will energize conservatives to regroup and gain power once again--much like what happened in 1994 with Clinton. Unfortunately, historians will view B.O.'s presidency as a fart in the history of this nation.
I believe, in reality, Obama
I believe, in reality, Obama was on the outs with the Chicago political machine. He challenged establishment candidate Bobby Rush for a congressional seat, for example, and lost. When he served in the Ilinois state legislature he was forced to make friends and socialize with downstate, conservative members because those from the Chicago area kept their distance. While in the state senate, Obama frequently worked across the aisle and had a mostly moderate record.
He has said that he would favor single-payer healthcare if he was starting from scratch (which of course he isn't), but other than that, I don't know what you could posssibly mean by his "far-left leaning ideology." I wonder if you know yourself. Perhaps you will enlighten us? Certainly, his financial advisors are all well-known establishment types, and he has put more than one Republican in his cabinet, if I am not mistaken.
Judging by his radical
Judging by his radical stances on abortion, such as spearheading the fight against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act (see video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HRFqmlZEbY )and his record making political deals, makes him seem like a typical Chicago-machine politician. When his wife was given a $300,000 job at University of Chicago hospital the record shows that Obama in the legislature rewarded the U of C with a hefty state grant. His crooked deals with the likes of Tony Rezko and the fact that one of his mentors, to whom he dedicated one of his books, is a communist, is enough to make anyone suspicious, especially when in his books, Obama admits attending socialist conferences and coming into contact with Marxist literature. Judging by how he's dealing with the economy, America may have elected the first Marxist U.S. president. Thus there is a good chance that future generations will look back at his presidency as a fart in the history of this nation.
But didn't you know that the
But didn't you know that the Enneagram was an "instrument of the devil," LOL, with 2000-year-old links to "the occult"? At least, that is what the extreme right wing of the Catholic home-schooling crowd will tell you. So basically you are just confirming their contention that Obama is the anti-Christ.
As a member of the "extreme
As a member of the "extreme right wing of the Catholic homeschooling crowd", I would like to point out that Enneagram is historically linked with various non-christian mystical traditions by its proponents (eg Kabbalah and Sufism), although it is most likely of modern origin (post 1900). Most Catholics I know dismiss it altogether as (liberal) nonsense, from the lack of a basis in reality (see: Forer Effect) and the promulgation of it by certain circles "in" the Catholic Church.
What's his Myers-Briggs
What's his Myers-Briggs (MBTI) assessment? INTJ?
Not likely. ENFJ, ENTP
Not likely. ENFJ, ENTP perhaps.
The INTJ's are pulling his strings.
I was wondering if the NCR is
I was wondering if the NCR is still invested in Ennegram related products? I know that there was a financial interest several years ago involving a related company. Just wondering?
Credence Cassettes was once
Credence Cassettes was once part of NCR and during that time produced a number of cassettes dealing with the enneagram. Credence has not been a part of NCR for about a decade.
Clarence Thomson, the author of this article, was the editor of Credence at that time.
This assessment is
This assessment is interesting, but, I think, a bit off the mark. For example, President Obama has already shown that he is personally a very sympathetic person, interested in the thoughts and feelings of those around him, and he has also throughout his political career demonstrated an ability and a willingness to compromise.
Like Robert F. Kennedy, Obama seeks to combine hard-headedness with big-heartedness. Here is some of what what Obama said in 2005 about RFK's idealism:
"It was an idealism not based in rigid ideology. Yes, he believed that government is a force for good – but not the only force. He distrusted big bureaucracies, and knew that change erupts from the will of free people in a free society; that it comes not only from new programs, but new attitudes as well.
"And Kennedy’s was not a pie-in-the-sky-type idealism either. He believed we would always face real enemies, and that there was no quick or perfect fix to the turmoil of the 1960s.
"Rather, the idealism of Robert Kennedy – the unfinished legacy that calls us still – is a fundamental belief in the continued perfection of American ideals."
Was RFK being idealistic when he said -- at the height of the civil rights crisis in America -- that he believed America would elect an African-American president in 40 years? Yes, but he was also exactly right in his assessment of what was possible in America. As Barack Obama has said, "In the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it."
Barack Obama ia all about reaching for what is possible.
As I understand the
As I understand the enneagram, the identified "personality type" is valuable and meaningful, when, and only when, it is self-identified, not when your so-call "personality type" is identified by someone other than yourself. It is important to remember, as part of the Myers Briggs instrument suggests, there is the "you" as you see yourself, and among other things, there is the "you" as seen by others. That "you" is not necessarily the same. So, if we want to talk about the enneagram personality type of Barak Obama, lets leave it to his own self-identification of his "personality type" in order to have any validy at all.
DJS.
Barack Obama is no more of a
Barack Obama is no more of a one than I am. He is a six. Clarence Thomson may understand what a one is, but I say he does not understand what Obama is. As long as we are discussing the enneagram, what about Michelle Obama?
I think Obama is a nine --
I think Obama is a nine -- ever remark how he disappears, lets others take charge, and then reappears to make peace? What other number thinks a beer summit has any value? And all his little pleasures that he must have -- expensive beef, golf games galore, little vacations, etc.
As for Michelle. I think she's a 3. She has said that she wanted to be thought of as the "smart one," certainly different from being the smart one. Now she's the First Lady and has suddenly become interested in food and kids. She talks about being a mom first, but her mother cares for the girls. She's all show and no substance. Everything is a photo op with her at the center playing out some role.
Let's face it, folks.
Let's face it, folks. Regardless of the amount of ink that's been spilled on the subject, the enneagram is simply astrology for Catholics. Go to
www.handprint.com/HM/ENN/egram.html
This entire article is based
This entire article is based on the assumption that "Obama the person" is the same as "Obama the celebrity". Not bloody likely, mate!
You're all wrong. Obama is a
You're all wrong. Obama is a 666.
Enneagrams are garbage. This man shows who he is by what he does. He has with the stroke of a pen promoted the death of thousands of more pre-born innocents. How shameful for an adult male to take pride in such a horrific achievment. And how stupid of adult Catholics to think this mumbo jumbo is anything but worthless. Try using your rosaries or say the chaplet of Divine Mercy when the urge come to check your enneagram!
What thoroughly supports
What thoroughly supports Clarence's argument, and so many are not taking into account, are all the component Types that a One represents. First of all, his verbal expression and language choices are all based in Ethos, rather than self-identity (Heart Triad) or safety (Brain Triad). In his inaugural speech, he made a point of saying that "ethics would no longer take a back seat to security." That would never come from a Brain Triad person, least of all a Six, who would likely sacrifice ethos for security in a heartbeat.
Ones are known for keeping their seething anger under the cool wraps of Objective Truth, and he certainly exhibits this.
Add the Wings of "seeking harmony, peaceful solutions, and why can't we all just get along" (9) and all of this being in the "service of helping others," (2) and you have a pretty classic One, a la George Washington, John Adams, and Abe Lincoln.
Move further into the self-confident place Obama is coming from, and you see a Seven; a brainy, people's story-telling, synthesizer of ideas. Someone who puts together disparate concepts into a Plan.
And as Ones are known to do, he avoids his melancholy, depressed place of stress and emotional drowning. Rather than give in to the helplessness this brings up, he pragmatically moves toward "fixing things" and making them right.
All of these components speak to his One-ness clearly and assuredly.
And on a final note: The altitude of his consciousness development is what gives him the position of "what I believe is right, is what I believe is right, and I do not need to force everyone around me to believe what I believe, for my beliefs to be valid."
It is only the frightened childlike consciousness that cannot tolerate the plurality of others' beliefs or views, as it feels that others' believing differently will diminish them. We cannot be diminished by another's words or beliefs. You can believe what you want, and it will not kill me or diminish me. God has created us in perfection, and none of us can diminish that. Every fundamentalist bloodbath from the Crusades to 9-11 are the result of this intolerance, and "need" to make others dance to our own tune.
The fact that the president of a country dedicated to the freedom to not follow the Anglican Church of King George III, (yes, remember? that's why we became the United States?) is following the law, and also following his Faith in his own life and his family's life is perfectly Righteous. For him to shove his beliefs down others' throats would be fascism.
We are here to love one another, have compassion for one another, support one another, and be brothers and sisters, not to force others to believe what we believe or do as we do or say what we say. The violent, forceful, judgement-filled, prideful, fear-based, nasty, and otherwise incredibly un-Christian barbs in these comments seem quite out of place. But then, that's just the Two perspective, as espoused by a loving, compassionate carpenter from Nazareth.
Obama is most likely an
Obama is most likely an Enneagram 3/w4, often misidentified as a 1.
We can see his duplicity and deceit in so many of his talk vs. action behaviors as he spun his way from campaign through election. He is still spinning stuff in he expert way of an average 3 who wants to do well, but most important, maintain image. HILARY CLINTON is a one...compare her with Obama. Obama is a 3/w4.
Ones generally lack the grace and smoothness of threes. Obama has three times the Charisma of Hilary.
Read Enneagram 3/w4, observe Obama, and be very afraid.
A self-possessed person with
A self-possessed person with unshakable equanimity.
A new force is entering the world, a new being, an ancient child, an indomitable spirit.
Their receptivity allows them to be the most trusting of the personality types.
The are good mediators because they take the complaints of others seriously
They have a soothing effect on others because they are so calm themselves.
Others find that they are mysteriously at peace simple for being in their presence.
They are extremely affable people.
The kind other spontaneously call “nice” or the “salt of the earth.”
They are jovial and have sunny dispositions, a natural, unaffected sense of humor,
and a warm, easy laugh.
They may become extremely successful in their professions because of their ability to bring out the best in others by creating a nurturing environment.
They have found a certain balance in life and don’t let things get to them.
They are more even-keeled and don’t get themselves worked up too easily.
They can easily see different points of view,
and tend to agree with people more than disagree with them.
They believe in emphasizing the positive rather the dwelling on the negative.
During the day they do everything that needs to be done,
but when the day is over, they know how to relax and take it easy.
The desire to maintain their inner stability and peace of mind as they work to establish peace and harmony in their world
They focus on the bright side of life so that their peace of mind will not be shaken
They can thrive in large institutions balancing nonjudgmental listening with the desire to be of help to others.
They generally have a good deal of energy and like to stay active.
They are deeply receptive, open, unselfconscious, emotionally stable, and serene.
Accepting, trusting of self and others, easygoing, at ease with self and life.
Patient, gentle, unpretentious, they have an innocence and
simplicity about them and are genuinely nice people.
At their best they become self-possessed and
have great equanimity and genuine contentment.
Their characteristic virtue is patience and
a deep “letting be” of the others so that the other can develop in his or her own way.
They have attentiveness to others, empathy and supportiveness.
They tend to be open-minded and diplomatic.
Their ability to see many different sides of an issue and
to be a good mediator and facilitator.
I stills ay President Obama
I stills ay President Obama is a 9w1 wings. There are others who think he's a 3w4 wing... A One never. He's too calm to be a One -- One wing, yes....
Well, with a few years of
Well, with a few years of hindsight behind us.......what do you think now?
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