Is Barack Obama channeling John F. Kennedy?

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He's fired up youth with eloquent oratory and a message of change. He has the pearl-wearing wife and two adorable little kids. He's making plans for a huge speech in Berlin.So ask -- or ask not: Is Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama channeling John F. Kennedy?Republicans practically roll their eyes at the Camelot question -- and Obama's not even the official nominee yet."If Michelle starts wearing a pillbox hat, or they get a pony named Macaroni -- look out," sighs Bill Whalen, Hoover Institution research fellow.The parlor game of finding comparisons between the young president from Massachusetts and the young senator from Illinois heated up last week.For starters, there was the announcement that Obama will aim to deliver an address in Berlin, a campaign event that has had German politicians battling over its propriety. But no one can escape the rich symbolism of a young Democrat speaking to the world from the same city where Kennedy delivered his famed "Ich bin ein Berliner" ("I am a Berliner") speech in the midst of the Cold War.Then there's the planned Aug. 28 nomination acceptance speech at a public rally before 75,000 people in a stadium -- not a convention hall -- in Denver.Democratic strategist Garry South said the Camelot reach isn't too much at all."Every Democrat since JFK has tried to channel JFK," he said. "He is, for all kinds of reasons, an icon in the Democratic Party because his life was cut short, and he departed when he was 46, and there is the feeling of a lot of unfulfilled potential."And it's not like it hasn't been done before on the other side, "just like every Republican candidate tries to channel Ronald Reagan," said GOP consultant Dan Schnur.No kidding -- GOP candidates have had a fondness for cowboy boots, a ranch, elegant wives wearing St. John knit suits, along with the appeals to patriotism and strength.The presumed Republican presidential candidate, Arizona Sen. John McCain, has at least a few of those goodies in his campaign grab bag.But when it comes to the current race -- and the Camelot connection -- former JFK speechwriter Ted Sorenson has argued the case for what he said are some uncanny parallels between the wealthy Bostonian and the former Chicago community organizer.Both Harvard-educated men wrote inspirational books, struggled with a perceived lack of experience and a heritage (Catholic for Kennedy, African-American for Obama) viewed as groundbreaking.Their oratorical skills have been an obvious connection.Then there are the connections on the more personal front: family and personal style.Last week's heralded TV interview with Obama, his wife, Michelle, and two spirited young daughters nearly summoned the spirit of Hyannis Port -- especially when the girls were asked what it would be like to live in the White House. (The answer: "Cool.")They're getting a dog -- not exactly the Caroline Kennedy pony named Macaroni. But the Kennedys had an army of dogs at Hyannis Port -- a Welsh terrier named Charlie, an Irish spaniel named Shannon and a German shepherd named Clipper, as well as Pushinka, a present from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.And, don't forget that that same Caroline Kennedy is helping Obama vet his vice-presidential candidate.When it comes to scoring on style matters, Michelle Obama has shown plenty of instinct: The Jackie-esque thing has been especially potent with her elegant jewel-colored dresses and fabulous sheaths, as well as the flip hairdo and signature pearls that positively channel the revered first lady.Obama himself hasn't done too badly on that front. Like JFK, he has won kudos from the A-list of the fashion world, including designers Donatella Versace and Tom Ford, for his classic, metrosexual, sleeves-rolled-up urban cool.Still, some political observers say the whole Camelot thing is just the creation of a headline-hungry, celebrity-soaked media culture."I don't think Kennedy was trying to create Camelot, and I don't think Obama is trying to present himself as if he were Kennedy," said Democratic strategist Phil Trounstine, an Obama backer. "Come on, it's a People-magazine worldview. And Michelle Obama is who she is," he said. Besides, "Jackie Kennedy's pearls were real."(E-mail Carla Marinucci at cmarinucci(at)sfchronicle.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)