Sasha Obama’s Oval Office photo: echoes of JFK’s Camelot?

A photograph of Barack Obama's daughter Sasha creeping up on the President while he works in the Oval Office - reminiscent of the famous image of John F Kennedy and his son John Jnr from 1963 - has been released by the White House.

The picture was taken in early August and was released through the official White House Flickr website. In it eight-year-old Sasha, the younger of Obama's two daughters, can be seen hiding behind a sofa ready to pounce as her father reads papers.

It has echoes of the famous shot of young John Kennedy Jnr playing while his father worked at his desk. That photo, taken earlier in the year that JFK was assassinated, helped establish the 'Camelot' image now associated with the Kennedy family.

Sasha and her older sister Malia, 11, are the youngest children to live in the White House since the 1960s, and President Obama has made no secret of the fact that one of the benefits of his job is being able to work 'from home' and spend time with his family.

The release of the candid snap is "neat timing" according to one Washington observer: it comes as America mourns JFK's brother Ted and as the Obamas seek to re-establish the feel-good mood that accompanied their arrival at the White House in January, but which has all but disappeared in recent months.