THE OBAMAS: Young family, new style to enliven White House

It was a mere fleeting image amid all the others that were beamed into our living rooms on that momentous election night: 7-year-old Sasha Obama in her black party dress, bounding gleefully up into her father’s arms, each in turn planting a happy kiss on the other’s cheek.

But the heart-tugging moment was as poignant a reminder as any that a vigorous, appealing young family is entering the White House —- one that will bring a dramatically different energy and style to the presidency.

And on that night, it wasn’t hard to see why some have been tempted to make the comparison with another highly telegenic first family who fascinated and inspired the country nearly a half-century ago: the Kennedys.

Youth, style, optimism —- all those hallmarks of Obama’s ascension to power remind Ted Sorensen, the speechwriter and adviser to John F. Kennedy, of his former boss. And, he says, an infectious sense of confidence. That’s something few of us who watched Obama on that balmy Chicago night could have missed: The sense of calm and assuredness he projected as he accepted the mantle of the most powerful job in the world.

“Kennedy had that confidence, too,” said Sorensen.

What will mark the style of an early Obama White House? Friends of the new first couple say the mansion will be infused with the spirit of Sasha and her 10-year-old sister, Malia, just as the Kennedy White House is often remembered as a playground for Caroline and John, Jr.

“He may be the president-elect, but those two young daughters will still be a major focus of his life, and a major part of the White House,” said Kirk Dillard, a Republican state senator from Illinois and a friend of Obama’s. “Barack is a pretty hip and engaged father, and those girls have him wrapped around their little fingers.”

The White House staff will be grateful for their presence, said Betty Monkman, a former chief White House curator who worked there for 30 years.

“Any house is so much more alive with children, and it’s the same with the White House,” said Monkman. “The kids come in, they bring their friends. It makes it a home.”

What kind of first lady will Michelle Obama be? Sandy Matthews, a close friend from Chicago, said the first priority of the pal she calls “Mich” (pronounced “Meesh”) will be getting her girls settled. After that, she expects her to focus on issues she embraced on the campaign trail —- the challenges facing working women and military families, for example.

Will she and her husband be enthusiastic White House hosts, holding grand dinners a la Jackie Kennedy? Friends aren’t sure. “They’re pretty relaxed and casual types,” Matthews said.

And Dillard recalls a friend with simple tastes, whom he ran into “getting ice cream at a Dairy Queen or buying junk food at a gas station.”

Todd Boyd, a professor of popular culture at the University of Southern California, imagines the Obamas hosting events with impressive guest lists, given celebrity enthusiasm for the president-elect. And though Obama tried hard to downplay the celeb factor when the Republicans likened him in a Web ad to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, Boyd suspects that “those rules will probably loosen a bit —- at least until the re-election campaign.”

On a more serious note, the state of the economy will doubtless have an impact on the style and mood of any entertaining early in the Obama presidency, Boyd says: “They will be very conscious not to appear insensitive to the conditions people are facing.”

There’s one area where many are hoping for the immediate influence of Michelle Obama: the often maligned world of Washington fashion, where Jackie Kennedy’s famous sense of style has never been replicated.

“Undoubtedly, fashion will change,” said Rochelle Behrens, a designer and also a former intern in the Bush White House. “Michelle Obama has an easy, unfussy, simple style of dress that harks back to the Camelot days of Jackie Kennedy. I think we’ll see people latch onto her style.”

On a more substantive style note, will we see, in the Obama administration, a renewed emphasis on carefully chosen words and elegant rhetoric?

Sorensen, the Kennedy speechwriter, notes how the McCain campaign sought to denigrate Obama’s rhetorical talents, as if to say elegant words meant no substance.

“Just words?” Sorensen asks. “That’s what Kennedy used to summon the country to a better understanding of responsibility to fellow citizens, to galvanize U.S. efforts in space exploration, to explain on national TV that the Soviets had missiles 90 miles from our shores. Believe me, eloquence is a very important asset in the White House.”

Finally, if Tuesday’s victory rally is any indication, we may be seeing four more years of real public displays of affection between Barack and Michelle Obama. Matthews, Michelle’s friend, hopes these spontaneous moments continue.

“I really teared up when Michelle looked into Barack’s eyes on Tuesday night and told him, ‘I love you,’” she said. “The country needs to see a genuine marriage with love and emotion. She was telling him, I think, that they’re walking down this road together. And you know, even a president needs to hear that.”