Yes we can be like the Obamas
Harry & Meg hire ex-pres aide
EXCLUSIVE
PRINCE Harry and Meghan are believed to have political ambitions after hiring a PR whizz who helped re-elect Barack Obama.
The Sussexes will hope Miranda Barbot, part of the team behind US President Obama’s second term triumph, will transform their battered image.
News of her appointment comes days after it emerged an ex-obama bodyguard protects the couple.
Last night an insider said the Duke and Duchess may try to emulate the
Obamas. Barack was first elected US
President in 2008 using the slogan:
“Yes We Can”.
The insider said:
“There are shades of the Clintons or even
Kennedys. It wouldn’t be a huge shock now if
Meghan went into politics.” The Sussexes’ public image has been rocked by controversies, including last year’s interview with Oprah Winfrey during which Meghan accused an unnamed royal of racism.
Meghan, 40, and Harry, 37, have never declared their political allegiance but they have been accused of meddling in both UK and US politics since stepping down as fulltime working royals.
In October it was claimed Meghan had used “tactics of an aspiring politician” to lobby for
paid leave for parents. She wrote a two-page letter on the Sussexes’ headed paper to Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and the Majority Leader in the US Senate Chuck Schumer about paid family leave policies.
She also cold-called Republican senators to persuade them to sign up to the plans, introducing herself as the Duchess of Sussex.
A rising star in Washington, Barbot, was a 19-year-old university undergraduate when she won a scholarship on to Obama’s team.
Sources said she has joined the Sussexes’ firm Archewell after leaving US public relations firm Berlinrosen.
The Sunday People spotted her among Harry and Meghan’s official team at the Duke’s
Invictus games in Holland, which ended on Friday.
Harry was snapped alongside Obama in Toronto, Canada, when the city hosted Invictus five years ago.
A source called Barbot a key figure in Team Sussex who is a “shrewd operator” and has plenty of experience to help them adapt to life outside the Royal Family.
Barbot’s Twitter account describes herself as a “New Yorker and year-round iced coffee drinker”. Berlinrosen has worked with law firms, big corporations and the Green Party in the US.
Barbot and the Sussexes were approached for comment.