Face reading the political candidates: Sarah Palin

Cheeks

If you look at where her cheeks are overall on her face – on the right side especially, but really on the left as well – they’re even. That’s a power style called the polite power style. She’s somebody who gets things done without necessarily calling attention to herself.

Very infrequently do presidents have this style. FDR had this. William Taft. That’s her company. It’s knowing about how to work the system. It’s not about being super effusive, gushy. You figure out the social machine and which string to pull to get what you want. She’s good at that, but it doesn’t necessarily make a good impression on people. You don’t hear a lot of stories about all the important things she did as mayor.

Potential challenge Not getting credit for many good things she might do.

Eyebrows

She has starter eyebrows (like John McCain, brows with more hair by the nose, less toward the ear). So it’s two people on the ticket who have that characteristic.

Potential challenge Not finishing projects.

Eyelids

She has what I call the romantic eyelid configuration. With both of her eyes, she has quite a bit of eyelid that starts near her nose but then it disappears.

She looks a bit like Danielle Steel. Danielle Steel has a more extreme version, so in her honor, I call it romantic eyelid. It’s a part of the face that tells you a lot about how somebody defines intimacy … how close to get to others. It tells you about a repeating pattern that person goes through again and again, whether it’s a relationship with a particular date or a pregnant daughter or the American public.

You can look at it in many different contexts, but I think with her what you will find is that she makes a really powerful first impression and gets very, very close to people. Then deeper in the relationship, there’s a tendency for her to be thrown back on herself. People who don’t know her well think, “This is the one.” It’ll be interesting to look at her long-term relationships. It’s exceptional idealism rapidly followed by disillusionment – that’s the pattern.

Potential challenge She gets disillusioned with other people and they get disillusioned with her.