Chart Assessments
My read of Barack Obama...
In context of the MBTI,
Obama is an ENFJ,
an Extroverted iNtuitive Feeling Judger, with significant Introverted Thinking (manifesting in a tendency to decide
for others, rather than let them choose for themselves) and Introverted Perception (manifesting in a tendency to control
relationships).
Obama's ennea-type is
Two,
with a strong Three wing.
The passions ("sins") are pride and deceit, rather than accidia and anger (9w1).
Heart triad (2,3,4), not Gut (8,9,1).
Obama's birth chart presents three powerful dynamics: a kite formation, a grand square, and a mystic rectangle.
Two points of the grand square are integrated with the base and apex of the kite, and two points are integrated
with the rectangle. The other two points of the rectangle engage a critical aspect: Mercury opposition Jupiter/Saturn
in the 12th House. The key element is Chiron (the kite base) in the 1st House, opposing Pluto (the kite apex) - which is
weakly conjunct the North Node - in the 7th.
As Chiron struggled with a mortal injury for which there was no apparent remedy, Obama is also a "Wounded Healer". In
this case, however, the injury presents as a narcissistic conflict that arises from abandonment. The absent father
figure is unconsciously idealized and cathected as a self-object, temporarily filling the void and providing the required
narcissistic supplies for ego stability. As developmental needs are no longer met by the paternal self-object, there
arises a cognitive dissonance that demands new models to serve as self-object and satisfy the self.
The maternal object is viewed with ambivalence because she cannot resolve the wound and may have caused or abetted it.
She contributes to the cathecting self by instilling the belief that the developing child is of superior capability and
intelligence. She also reinforces the cognitive search for new models which supersede previous self-objects as the necessity
arises.
Obama harbors a deep need to resolve personal feelings that he is an outsider and does not belong, yet he is convinced that his
superior intelligence and empathic capacity confer upon him a special knowledge, a personal entitlement and moral authority.
The need for acceptance precludes outright self-assertion of his superiority, because this is not a pragmatic strategy;
rather, he understands that acceptance must come through a focus on the perspectives and concerns of others. He
is adept at reading the attitudes of others and can quickly absorb ideas, then skillfully present them as his own. His
empathic abilities and capacity for mimicry (e.g., he will incorporate the vocabulary, use similar postures, and
alter his pronunciation) to make it appear that he is not different. One may come away with the impression that "he is just
like me", only later to realize that things may not have been as they seemed. Obama is not focused on the subject,
but on egoic performance in maintaining cognitive stability in respect of the internal self-object. He will remain
inaccessible and unknown because he is unknown to himself, a man of peripatetic ideas and assumed roles.
For Obama, truth is relative, an internally mediated variable he believes is subject to social manufacture. What
is "real" is a matter of agreement. Positions will be adopted on the basis of their relevance to the casting of fact that
serves his immediate objectives and facilitates his acceptance by others. While there certainly are causes close to his
heart, these do not escape the influence of the narcissistic conflict: conflation of personal with collective needs
makes it likely that he will fall prey to narcissistic snares — that he can know all and heal all, or to the defensive belief
that he is never wrong. Attempting to take the tiger by the tail, he will confuse personal attributes with the
collective capacity and will, making it possible to cast himself as a symbol or see himself as the cause, leading to
an over-estimation of his ability to handle such responsibilities as may be acquired in the process. He will become impatient
and dogmatic because people do not understand that he knows what is best for them, the nation, and the world. He
will also evince suggestibility in response to the demands of important partners with whom he has allied himself in the quest to
achieve his vision of the truth.
Obama has certainly inspired and made us think, but his best contribution may not be as president of the United States.
— Richard Dagan |
