{"id":877325,"date":"2026-06-19T03:20:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T03:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/877325\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T03:20:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T03:20:04","slug":"obama-presidential-center-grand-opening-in-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/877325\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama Presidential Center grand opening in Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Obama Presidential Center<\/a> was dedicated Thursday in Jackson Park to the sounds of celebration and aspiration, music and motivation to amplify Barack and Michelle Obama\u2019s message that it serve as a \u201cbeacon of hope\u201d for democracy and help pave the way for a new generation of political leadership.<\/p>\n

Surrounded by former Democratic Presidents Joe Biden and Bill Clinton and Republican ex-President George W. Bush, their spouses, former foreign leaders, federal, state and local politicians and a bevy of celebrities, former President Barack Obama urged Americans to look past the political turbulence and controversies of the Trump era that have fostered cynicism and to recapture the message of hope and change that catapulted him to the White House in 2008.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump was pointedly not invited to the dedication<\/a>. His name went unspoken by Barack and Michelle Obama, or any other speaker during the three-hour ceremony \u2014 a notable silence given that the current president has long mocked the Obama years and, earlier this week, shared an AI-generated image of the center\u2019s tower as a trash can.<\/p>\n

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Thousands flock to Midway Plaisance Park for Obama Presidential Center watch party: \u2018This is a historic event\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But in a clear reference to Trump, Barack Obama said the center celebrates \u201cAmerican values we can all share,\u201d including beliefs that the military and law enforcement do not owe their allegiance to a president, that there should be a peaceful transfer of power after an election and that \u201cqualities of character, honesty, integrity, kindness, compassion, a sense of duty and honor\u201d still matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we lose faith in each other, when we stop believing that voting matters, that citizenship matters, that our collective voices matter, that how we treat each other no longer matters, and we give away our power to decide our own futures, we open the door to the most ruthless or the most careless or the most fearful among us who see some groups and some people as more equal than others and see government as nothing more than a way to divvy up the spoils and punish enemies and keep those who are different in their place,\u201d Obama said during a 34-minute address.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not believe that is the story of America that prevails in the end,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter all this country has been through, (to give in) to cynicism and division would be a betrayal of our founding ideals, a betrayal of our faith, and I remain convinced that the overwhelming majority of Americans feel the same way \u2014 that as unsettled as we are, people aren\u2019t looking for perpetual anger and division. They are looking for fairness and common sense and mutual respect, that deep in our gut we want to find a way to turn towards each other again, not further away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obama said the exhibits inside the $835 million center \u201care not meant to evoke nostalgia for some gauzy bygone era, some unattainable past that we can dream about and say, \u2018Oh, we miss you, Barack.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re meant to remind us of who we can be, to remind us of what\u2019s possible, so we can forge ahead, clear-eyed and confident and do the work that still needs to be done,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a new generation out there ready to write the next chapter of our story. We intend to help them do it and we ask that you join us.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her speech, Michelle Obama paid tribute to her husband as \u201cunflappable at every turn, always focused, always calm, always looking at the long view,\u201d as she called the center \u201da beacon of hope, a monument to our unshakable values, the ones my husband has exemplified his entire life \u2014 equality, empathy, honesty, inclusion, fairness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially during these anxious and divisive times, it is so important that we remember that those values are not unique to my husband. They are the same ones that your husbands and wives, your parents and children, your friends and neighbors exhibit and pass on every single day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She also took an oblique dig at Trump by noting that her husband was actually awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, an honor the current president has openly yearned for but not received. The comment sparked an audible guffaw<\/a> from Hillary Clinton, the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state who lost to Trump in the 2016 presidential election.<\/p>\n

\"GuestsGuests attend the Obama Presidential Center opening ceremony, June 18, 2026, in Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Music has been a tradition for the Obamas, and the event was punctuated with several high-mark musical performances. Chicagoan Jennifer Hudson opened the event by singing the national anthem as well as \u201cThe Impossible Dream,\u201d followed by Christina Aguilera singing \u201cWhat a Wonderful World.\u201d Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder sang an original song he said was titled \u201cBetter Believe\u201d with younger local singers.<\/p>\n

Entertainer John Legend sang a cover of Chicagoan Donny Hathaway\u2019s 1973 song \u201cSomeday We\u2019ll All Be Free,\u201d later welcoming the choir Uniting Voices Chicago and rapper Common to sing \u201cGlory\u201d from the film \u201cSelma.\u201d The museum is wrapped in text from Obama\u2019s speech at the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches.<\/p>\n

Other performers included The Roots, Bruce Springsteen, Bono and The Edge from U2, with the event culminating in a performance of \u201cHigher Ground\u201d led by Stevie Wonder, joined by Hudson, Legend, Common, Springsteen and Vedder.<\/p>\n

Celebrities from the political world also filled the center\u2019s outdoor main plaza, named after the late civil rights icon U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia.<\/p>\n

About half an hour before the event began, political leaders milled about, speaking to and greeting each other, including U.S. Rep. and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Obama chief of staff and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Arne Duncan, who was education secretary under Obama. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who is retiring at the end of his term early next year, and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who is the Democratic nominee seeking to succeed Durbin, were also in attendance, as were former Mayor Lori Lightfoot and current Mayor Brandon Johnson.<\/p>\n

Hollywood directors Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were present, as were Oprah Winfrey, David Letterman, Stephen Colbert and Conan O\u2019Brien, while Gov. JB Pritzker was seen chatting with actor Tom Hanks.<\/p>\n

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel were there as well.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer President Barack Obama speaks during the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, June 18, 2026, in Chicago\u2019s Jackson Park. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

But it was Barack and Michelle Obama who were the main attraction for the hundreds of invitees at the center\u2019s plaza and the thousands attending a ticketed watch party<\/a> at the nearby Midway Plaisance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The former president, who moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer, said the center had to be located on the city\u2019s South Side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found my purpose here, and I fortified my faith here. And I found my community here, friendships that would last a lifetime. I found a girl from the South Side who has been my greatest blessing,\u201d he said, referring to his wife. \u201cFor me, this center could not be any other place. It is an expression of thanks, an acknowledgment that so much of what I hold most dear I owe to the people of this city and the people of these surrounding neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obama also said that he, his wife and others involved in erecting the center in Jackson Park \u201cwanted (the center) to be a vibrant living celebration of community, where we can learn together and share the joys of art and music and sport and play because it\u2019s in those moments that we\u2019re reminded of our common humanity and strengthen the bonds of trust that not only make our lives richer, but make our democracy stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discussing his career, Obama said he learned to listen and connect with people while working in Chicago as an organizer in the neighborhoods and that those lessons steered him to his life in politics and eventually the presidency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was possessed with this abiding faith that if we could give people more of a say in the forces that govern their lives, if we could bridge some of the differences that drove us apart, then we could build an America where everyone counts and everyone has a fair shot and everyone belongs,\u201d he said. \u201cI learned that leadership has less to do with titles or rank or chasing attention than with helping others find their voice, reaching their potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that the center is built, he said, he hopes it stands as a symbol of what makes the United States great.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocracy can be frustrating. It can be slow. It can be inefficient. And yet, more than anything, I hope this center will serve as an affirmation of just how special, how precious our democracy truly is and remind us of what we can achieve when we embrace our shared responsibilities as citizens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

During her speech, Michelle Obama alluded to the Trump administration\u2019s aggressive efforts to enforce immigration policy, saying, \u201cTo ignore the simple truth, to refuse to respect the contributions and experiences of people who aren\u2019t exactly like us, puts us all at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one, and I mean no one, has the right to sit in judgment of who\u2019s American enough,\u201d she said. She also contrasted her husband\u2019s presidency with the current one, saying Barack Obama didn\u2019t grab \u201cas much as we can get for ourselves or (knock) folks down to prop ourselves up.\u201d Instead, she said, her husband showed his \u201coverwhelming goodness, the relentless striving, the quiet dignity that is inside all of us. Our greatest hope is that this center can reflect back just a fraction of that light.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou simply don\u2019t have the luxury or time to be cynical or complacent, to wring our hands in despair, to wait for someone else to fix the problem. Y\u2019all, hope is all we have, because hope is the essential spark that lights the fire of change, but hope is a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n