Private Kennedy goes public for Obama

Published on Saturday 14 June 2008 01:06

THE girl Americans remember for riding her pony, Macaroni, on the South Lawn of the White House, has spent a lifetime protecting her privacy.

Now Caroline Kennedy has moved into one of the most exposed positions in American political campaigning, as adviser to Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama on his choice of running mate.

As a member of Obama's vice-presidential selection team, the daughter of slain President John F. Kennedy must function with the utmost secrecy. But she has sought and treasured her privacy since her father's assassination in 1963.

"She has a natural kind of reserve about her," said Paul Kirk, a former Democratic Party chairman, now chairman of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. "I don't mean aloof, but she is very modest, maybe even shy. She's not one who makes a big scene about herself."

Kennedy's role is increasingly vital – particularly as her family's legacy makes her virtually untouchable in the press. The vice-presidential search chairman, Jim Johnson, resigned this week over rumours of sweet deals on mortgages.

The president's daughter has a small circle of friends in New York, where she works raising money for local schools. They are the few who see a wry sense of humour that has rubbed off on JFK's grandson and namesake, 15-year-old Jack.

The sole remaining member of a White House family that continues to captivate the world, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg does not like talking about herself. But recently she has begun to shed some of her trademark shyness.

On her 50th birthday in November, she served as a cover girl for the magazine of the American Association of Retired Persons. The date was 27 November, just five days after the 44th anniversary of her father's death. Two months later she wrote a column for The New York Times declaring her support for Obama. It touched off three days of coverage that included a raucous rally with Obama and her uncle, Senator Edward Kennedy, in Washington.

Kennedy's mother, Jacqueline, moved her and her brother, the late John F. Kennedy Jr, to New York following their father's assassination, giving more privacy in the big city. He died in a plane crash in 1999, while Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died in 1994.

"I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them," Caroline Kennedy wrote. "But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president – not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans."