President Obama Face Reading Analysis

President Obama is an interesting study. In many ways, he can seem at first blush to be like the ant in that old song, “High Hopes,” who keeps taking down the rubber tree plants with his “high in the sky, apple-pie hopes.” But when you look closely, what emerges from the parts and pieces that make up the man, is a practical visionary and a steady plodder, pushing and strategizing toward major goals.

What I’ll do here is give you those parts and pieces as seen through the lens of face reading, along with a bit of body type asides.

Barack Obama’s body type and face type indicate a high mental drive and capacity, operating largely off mental energy. His solutions are not gut reactions and primal instincts, but are born of mental, rational thinking. The body type shows high energy, self-awareness, and a largely mental drive. The long torso indicates high physical energy, while the slender build indicates a roving mind that’s not content with social chit-chat, but prefers more serious, purposeful, in-depth encounters, and the use of indirect means to an end rather than confrontation. (But he can do confrontation if all other avenues are closed, shown by the squared chin and the prominent brow bones and thick eyebrows.)

The head shape front to back and side to side shows: a good balance between thinking and doing, and that he is a strong competitor without the killer instinct that wants to annihilate the opposition. Any win is still a win in his book, and one step on a journey.

The overall triangular face shape is that of a thinker. Ideas, creativity, the thinking processes are what he’s about. What saves him from just being a thinker is threefold: that good sized, squared chin which grounds him in physical reality and makes him a fighter and a crusader; the balanced head shape (thinking and doing equally); and a high forehead that’s not so theoretic as to be off in space. It’s a much more practical forehead with the capacity for abstract thought brought into real world applications. It’s also broad, giving him a broad view and approach, which is supported by wide set eyes, which are also big picture. This is not a man who gets lost in the trees and can’t see the forest. Plus, his vertical forehead is a logical, sequential thinker who takes a deliberative approach, demanding to first understand something in its entirety, then act.

Combine that with the squared shape of the hairline, and you have a man who can be a workaholic: his work is his hobby and his hobby is his work. It also means he is future oriented: his mind is always five steps down the road, like a chess player, planning, strategizing, playing out the “if this, then that” scenarios in his mind before finding the path that promises the best results.

He has good mental concentration, can stay focused on a subject far longer than most people, and productively so. There’s also a strong trait of imagination and creative visualization, meaning when he gets an idea of what he wants to accomplish, it’s not a fuzzy notion, but a high resolution, full-color rendition of where he intends to go. These combinations indicate the makings of a visionary leader, not by the sword and brute force but through the force of ideas on a practical level.

There is an unusual symmetry in the face, itself. On most people, if you split the face vertically and create a face using a double of each side (called laterality), you typically get two, quite different personalities. Not so with Obama. Both sides are amazingly consistent. This gives a consistent personality with an even keel solidity.

The only inconsistency I see is in the level of the eyes: the right eye is slightly lower than the left. This gives the capacity to see things from two levels at the same time, and see more than one point of view. It can be very creative and promotes a capacity for strategic thinking. It also allows him to make quick judgements intuitively, but his forehead and facial plane will always demand a deliberate approach with a full understanding of likely consequences before taking action.

Those thick, smooth, largely straight eyebrows show he is passionate about things, but it is with mental clarity and control. He wants harmony in all relationships and has a natural tendency to make the first move toward establishing it. With these eyebrows, he likes to be directly involved with people, sharing his expertise and helping them. They indicate a strong ego, but not a tyrant like the Saddam Hussein or Stalin eyebrows. They are too smooth, and not thick and wild enough for that.

There is a bit of a triangular shape to them as well, which tells me he has the innate capacity for overseeing large, complex projects/situations. He understands how to bring order out of that kind of chaos and manage it.

They also indicate it may take him a bit to come onboard and gain steam, but when he does, he drives toward the finish line with steady, strong, deliberate force. It’s not about speed and show, but accomplishment and real results. He’s the tortoise.

Those ears show that approach also: he’s pragmatic, more interested in steady progress toward a goal than a Hail Mary pass or pie in the sky. It can be summed up as “progress over perfection.” They also show he’s going to approach things from the mind rather than the gut, nor does he subscribe to tradition just because it’s tradition. He does things because they make sense to him and not because that’s “what we’ve always done.” But, he can compromise to reach a goal. Sometimes, you have to take a detour to get where you’re going, and he will do it when necessary. But make no mistake: he’s not lost sight of the goal. Also half a pie is better than none. He’ll take it and keep working on the other half if it seems at all possible or feasible. If not, he’ll cut his losses, table it, and move on.


In his perception of matters, he is naturally inclined toward objective assessment. His is not the extreme criticism and focus on what’s wrong with something, nor is he inclined to gloss things over and ignore important matters. All tend to be assessed objectively, including his own behaviors.

The depth of his eyes indicates he likes to looks things over before deciding his response, which supports the ears and forehead shape. Also, it shows that he will take life seriously rather than lightly. He wants to deal with the weighty matters.

Personally, he will tend to be firm but not belligerent. Professionally, when pushed beyond what he considers reasonable, he’s capable of making cutting remarks, but measured in their delivery.

His nose shows a strategic approach with an appreciation for efficiency, and an awareness and understanding of the social hierarchy. Obama is independent in action, trusting his own solutions to problems, and yet he is not so independent that he can’t work with others toward a common goal. He is open to new ideas and information. He has a natural sense who he can trust, like a built-in radar for trustworthiness.

From the mouth area we can glean several things about him:

• He is an extrovert with good verbal command and an inclination to be generous

• He doesn’t tell everything he knows: he can keep his own counsel

• He has an inner self-confidence with a broadminded approach

• He takes his work very seriously but has a dry sense of humor

• He is doing what he considers his purpose in life, but he has faced many disappointments along the way and has stressed himself by working too hard.

A good sized chin with a rounded squareness gives a fighting spirit, lots of physical energy, a natural inclination to be affectionate, a willingness to fight for causes, and an innate groundedness in the physical world in spite of his largely mental approach.

He has his convictions, (shown by the prominent brow bones and thick eyebrows) but he’s not inclined to get his back up and refuse to budge when questioned or challenged. He will assess the opposing view, but that doesn’t mean knuckle under to it . . . simply that he will seriously see if it has any merit. If not, then so be it.

Next week, I’ll take a look at another famous face in the news these days: Michael Jackson.

Sandra