It isn't often that a man, let alone a politician, shows enough of his bare body that you can make a pretty good estimate of their somatotype.  In may of 2009, a photo of Obama  made the cover of the Washingtonian. A photographer took the picture while Obama was on a  "brief" getaway to Hawaii.  This photo should be of special interest to those in the field of anthropometry; the study of the dimensions of the human body.  Although, that photograph isn't exactly what an anthropologist would consider ideal it is sufficient to make a fairly good estimate of his somatotype.  Obama's mother, an anthropologist,  would no doubt be familiar and sympathetic with the practice of photographing and measuring indigenous populations.

So here is the "skinny" on Obama. His Trunk Index is 1.65 (Area of Thoracic Trunk divided by the Area of his Abdominal Trunk) .  He is alleged to be around six feet two without shoes.  And he is kind of skinny - under 170 pounds.  Using W.H. Sheldon's method of somatotyping Obama is most likely a 2½-4½.-5.½ which is a rating of Endomorphy, Mesomorphy and Ectomorphy on a 7 point scale.  So he would be classified as a mesomorphic ectomorph. Being a 4½ in Mesomorphy he is a half a degree above the average male population but not enough to be a professional  athlete.  At 5½ in ectomorphy (tall) he is much above the average of 3 for American males. His least developed component is his gut.  The average male is about a 4 in Endomorphy and he is only 2½.. Another significant measurement is the degree of balance between the three basic components. This is a scale that I have added to Sheldon's to express the degree of balance between the three dimensions and it becomes important in determining temperament.   His degree of balance is 5½.   When you sum it all up he is a fairly mid-range, gutless, muscular, skinny person.  He probably won't ever weigh more than 178 pounds.

The point of Hans Christian Andersen's story of the Emperor's New Clothes is that we are all naked animals underneath.  There is something very revealing about our bodies. When we are naked we lose not only our mask but our costume.  We are merely human.  But that raw human body tells us who we really are - before we created our persona by adapting to the influences around us.  What I am going to do now is give you a personality sketch based on what his body reveals. 

I have spent 30 years studying personality and have developed a coherent typology of personalities based upon the body-typing (somatotype) scheme of W.H. Sheldon. Please keep the groans to a minimum. Reserve your judgement until I finish. I warn you that you will understand Obama as the human he is.