All living former presidents gathered for the dedication of the Obama presidential center in Chicago. It was a star studded event that harkened back to a more-optimistic era in American politics.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
There are very few occasions when all the living former presidents appear together. But today, they gathered for the dedication of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. It was a star-studded event that hearkened back to a more optimistic era in American politics. NPR senior political correspondent Tamara Keith joins us now from the center grounds. Hi, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hi, Ailsa.
CHANG: So wait, what is it like there right now?
KEITH: It has been an event, a place to see and be seen – four former presidents and first ladies; by my count, at least four potential presidential candidates for 2028; Oscar winners, Grammy winners, Oprah. I was sitting next to my colleague Don Gonyea, who covered both the Clinton and Bush presidential library openings, and a few minutes into the first musical performance from The Roots, he turned to me and said, this is nothing like the others. And this was really more like a concert or a star-studded awards show than a stuffy presidential event, which makes sense.
CHANG: Yeah.
KEITH: This was very on brand with the Obamas, who brought that cool factor to the White House.
CHANG: Oh, my God. It sounds like so much fun to be out there. So you mentioned former presidents, but what about the current president?
KEITH: Yeah. He was not invited. Though, based on how many times President Trump mentioned Obama in his press conference at the G7 yesterday, Obama does live rent-free in his head. You know, Trump wasn’t mentioned by name here, but former first lady Michelle Obama’s speech was full of contrasts – a pointed mention of the Nobel Peace Prize her husband won and an America where equality and diversity are valued.
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MICHELLE OBAMA: Failing to see the humanity in all people puts us all on a slippery slope, a dangerous precedent that flies in the very face of our faith and of the founding promise of this democracy that all of us – all of us – are created equal.
KEITH: She said she hoped that this center will be a respite from the exhaustion of this moment. The whole event is like an alternate reality where the last 10 years never happened.
CHANG: You know, Tam, I keep hearing this place referred to as a center, not as, like, a presidential library. Can you explain? Why is that?
KEITH: Yeah. It has the look and feel of an official presidential library, and there’s even a Chicago public library branch on the grounds, but one thing is missing – the papers of the president. For a number of reasons, the Obama Foundation ended up not making this center part of the federal presidential library system that’s run by the National Archives. The papers are available digitally, but they’re not stored here. They’re in Maryland. And it’s sort of a technical distinction, but one that means that the Obamas and their foundation have a greater control over the center and its contents and also how they present or shape the Obama legacy.
CHANG: OK. Got it. So no physical papers there. But do you get a sense of what this center is designed to do? Like, what is the message it’s meant to deliver, you think?
KEITH: Its ambitions are bigger than just one man and his story, and in a way, it embodies the stubborn optimism of Obama. His famous line about there being no Democratic America or Republican America, but a United States of America, wasn’t really true when he first said it, and it feels even less true now. He said that the exhibits in this center are not meant to evoke nostalgia for some bygone era or some unattainable past.
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BARACK OBAMA: They’re meant to remind us of who we can be, to remind us of what’s possible, so we can forge ahead.
KEITH: Yeah. On the plaza where I am sitting now and where this event took place earlier today, there is a giant and somewhat crooked gray arch. And it’s meant to evoke the line that Obama often referenced, that the arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice. The message of all this is that he still believes that that is true.
CHANG: That is NPR’s Tamara Keith in Chicago. Thank you so much, Tam.
KEITH: You’re welcome.
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