Caroline
Kennedy brings discretion to veep search
By GLEN
JOHNSON
BOSTON--
Caroline Kennedy lives a very private life with a very
public profile. It's the perfect skill set for her newest
assignment.
As part of Barack Obama's vice presidential search team,
Kennedy must function with the utmost secrecy in what is
sure to be one of the most closely watched endeavors of
this year's presidential campaign.
The daughter of President Kennedy has sought and treasured
privacy since her father's assassination in 1963.
"She has, I think, a natural kind of reserve about her,"
said Paul Kirk, a former Democratic Party chairman who now
serves as 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."
Joel Klein, chancellor of New York's public school system,
for which Kennedy has worked raising money from private
donors, describes her as "the real deal."
"She is a very loyal, devoted, committed friend with
absolutely no pretense," he said.
Klein, whose wife, Nicole Seligman, went to Harvard's
Radcliffe College with Kennedy, said the president's
daughter has a small circle of friends in New York and they
are the few who get to see a wry sense of humor that has
rubbed off on JFK's grandson and namesake, 15-year-old
Jack.
Recalling a visit with the family on Martha's Vineyard,
Klein said John Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg displayed his
mother's wit when the boy asked the chancellor if he were
in charge of school snow days and then asked, "Can you do
one on my birthday?"
The sole remaining member of a White House family that
continues to captivate the world, Caroline Kennedy
Schlossberg does not like talking about herself, nor does
she appreciate those who do. But recently she has begun to
shed some of her trademark shyness.
Kennedy served as cover girl for AARP's magazine on the
occasion of her 50th birthday in November. It fell on Nov.
27, just five days after the 44th anniversary of her
father's death. Her landmark birthday served as something
of a wake-up call for many baby boomers who remembered her
as the girl riding her pony, Macaroni, on the South Lawn of
the White House.
Little more than two months after her birthday, Kennedy
wrote an op-ed 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,
Sen. Edward Kennedy, in Washington.
"I have never had a president who inspired me the way
people tell me that my father inspired them," 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."
Kirk said he was surprised that Kennedy has emerged as an
advocate for Obama.
"I would never have bet a few years ago that she would be
out on the stump for anyone other than her relatives, but
she has been a force for Senator Obama already," he said.
Kennedy continues to make appearances for Obama. And now
she is serving as a member of his vice presidential search
committee. The committee chairman, Jim Johnson, resigned
Wednesday. He faced questions about receiving favorable
rates on three home mortgages totaling $1.7 million from
the chief executive officer of Countrywide Financial Corp.,
which is under federal investigation as part of the
subprime mortgage crisis.
The third member of the committee, former Justice
Department official Eric Holder, has been in the spotlight
for his role vetting President Clinton's pardon of
financier Marc Rich just before leaving office in 2001.
While Republicans have pelted both Johnson and Holder since
their appointments, there has been no similar fuss over
Kennedy, treated almost like a family member by a public
that knows her only through the media.
Kennedy's mother, Jacqueline, moved her and her brother,
the late John F. Kennedy Jr., to New York following their
father's assassination, allowing them to gain privacy by
blending into the city's masses. Following college,
Caroline Kennedy interned for her uncle in his Senate
office before working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
It was there that she met her husband, Edwin Schlossberg,
an exhibit designer. They were married in 1986 on Cape Cod,
with Edward Kennedy walking his niece down the aisle and
journalist and future California first lady Maria Shriver
serving as her cousin's maid of honor. They have three
children, 15 to 19.
Caroline Kennedy received a law degree from Columbia
University and has used her legal training to write two
books on civil liberties. She also has edited a volume of
poetry and an updated version of her father's Pulitzer
Prize-winning book, "Profiles in Courage."
Today she presents annual Profiles in Courage awards and
preserves her father's legacy with her work at his
presidential library and at Harvard's John F. Kennedy
School of Government.
