The Obama Presidential Center
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From The Guardian:
I like the building itself. I think it's a very visually interesting building, and I would not compare it to a Klingon prison.
I would compare it to a monument to a King. And that disturbs me. We don't have kings here. $850m for a library that is not even a library, built on public lands as a monument to a living person? We are surely on the wrong track. The glorification of the president's role and office is out of hand. I believe it was meant to be a humble office.
No, there are no books in this building, which is why it's not officially called a library. This adds to what I find disturbing. If it were actually a library, perhaps my thinking would be different.
This whole business of making celebrities of presidents disturbs me.
But I really love the building and the grounds.
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From The Guardian:
I like the building itself. I think it's a very visually interesting building, and I would not compare it to a Klingon prison.
I would compare it to a monument to a King. And that disturbs me. We don't have kings here. $850m for a library that is not even a library, built on public lands as a monument to a living person? We are surely on the wrong track. The glorification of the president's role and office is out of hand. I believe it was meant to be a humble office.
No, there are no books in this building, which is why it's not officially called a library. This adds to what I find disturbing. If it were actually a library, perhaps my thinking would be different.
This whole business of making celebrities of presidents disturbs me.
But I really love the building and the grounds.
I would compare it to a monument to a King. And that disturbs me. We don't have kings here. $850m for a library that is not even a library, built on public lands as a monument to a living person? We are surely on the wrong track. The glorification of the president's role and office is out of hand. I believe it was meant to be a humble office.
No, there are no books in this building, which is why it's not officially called a library. This adds to what I find disturbing. If it were actually a library, perhaps my thinking would be different.
This whole business of making celebrities of presidents disturbs me.
Agreed. I hadn't thought much about it before your post (I haven't been following the development of the Obama Ctr closely), but I think everything that Trump's doing kind of has a "numbing" effect such that it makes other things (e.g., this center) look normal.
That's not a good trend to participate in.
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Not a fan of the building. The statue of him and Michelle looks fine from that angle, I saw a closeup of the face with a caption that said he looked like Ron Howard and I couldn't help but laugh.
Still I could imagine visiting next time I have time to kill in Chicago.
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I wondered what the other presidential libraries look like. Someone has put together a list of them with links to the individual library websites.
https://www.roadtripsandcoffee.com/presidential-libraries/#george-washington-presidential-library
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And the future DJT library:
More renderings here:
There is a promotional video on Truth Soc but I refuse to include the link here....
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sidebar:
A nonprofit called the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Fund Inc. was set up in December 2024, after ABC News agreed to donate $15 million toward a future presidential library as part of its defamation lawsuit settlement with then-candidate Trump. Over the next year, that fund got an influx of cash from various legal settlements with Meta, X and Paramount.
The fund was dissolved by the state in September 2025 — just days before the trustees' vote — after it failed to file a mandatory annual report. It is not clear how much money was in the fund, but a trio of federal Democratic lawmakers pursuing the issue says it could have held up to $63 million in settlement money.
Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, along with Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, wrote to ABC, Meta, X and Paramount earlier in March to ask for more detailed explanations on the original terms, conditions and amounts of their settlement deals.
"The Fund is now gone, and the public has no clarity about the current location or purpose of the funds provided by ABC or any other source," the lawmakers wrote.
NPR has reached out to the White House for comment about the status of the settlement money.
The Trump family opened a similarly named library foundation in May 2025, which is the entity that now owns the Miami property.
https://www.npr.org/2026/03/31/nx-s1-5768094/trump-presidential-library-renderings-miami
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