I received this reply to our post on Barack Obama’s Enneagram Type….

“I too agree that Obama is a Three.  I have a question.  The passion of a Three is DECEIT.  Because Threes do not allow themselves to become emotionally connected to other people, their attitude, that ‘anything goes’ on their way to the top, is laced with deception.  Because this is an unconscious self deception, how do we know that he is not deceiving the public?”  - Bill

A good question Bill. People who are Enneagram Type Three often get lost bending the truth and telling people what they want to hear. They have an amazing capacity to create an image, a persona that is the perfect model for whatever group they are in.

I can see how knowing that Barack Obama is a type Three might bring up concern. You start to wonder, is he the real deal, or is he just telling us what we want to hear, hiding the truth, and play-acting the “role” of a competent, visionary, motivational leader?

I’ve had similar thoughts.

I think Obama does tell us what we want to hear. All good politicians focus on the issues that concern the public, and they learn to talk directly to those issues.

I’ll tell you what puts my mind at ease…

Obama is not dominated by his type fixation. This is good news.

When a type Three is dominated by their fixation, I experience them as feeling plastic, unreal, without depth. When I watch them speak, they look like a caricature of themselves trying to be something or say something that they are not. They don’t impact my body and emotions in a real way.

When a speaker talks and what they say matches their deeply held convictions, something happens. Our bodies and emotions react.

I can feel my body respond when Obama hits a deeper place. I feel heat in my chest, he touches my heart, and my eyes water when his conviction resonates with my deeply held beliefs.

When I watch Barack Obama, I see someone who has depth. He moves me.

This leads me to believe that there is congruence between his words and his beliefs. I see, in Obama, a level of authenticity and self-revealing that is present in type Threes who have achieved a high level of emotional freedom from their fixation.

So this gives me more peace of mind.

Healthy Three’s bring the gifts of hope, personal betterment, intense focus, and a “can do” attitude to the people around them.

All of the Types can get lost in their fixations. But we humans are so much more than that. When any of us loosens the grip of our Type, we can react in more creative, appropriate ways to problems and to people. We are more present to ourselves and to the people we interact with.

It is my hope, no matter who ends up running this country, that he has some freedom from his emotional baggage. That he can handle the pressing problems of our time with creativity, integrity, and ease.

Please comment below. Do you feel the hope I’m speaking to here?

P.S. People were asking about Sarah Palin’s Type. I think she’s up next.

Ben