This comparision is realy eye opening. The Obama library situation is wild when you break it all down like this. The fact that he got a 99 year lease on public park land, displacing a historic Black neighborhood, and then the building ends up costing almost triple the original estimate is something that should have gotten way more scrutiny. And the digital only records thing is suspicious as hell, especially when you compare it to how every other presidential library handles their archives. The part about Obama barely living in Chicago but claiming it as his home base for the library feels like pure political calculation rather than any genuine connection to the city. What gets me is the aesthetics of that building. You're absolutly right that some things are objectively ugly, and that concrete tower is just brutal. It doesn't fit the neighborhood, it doesn't fit Chicago architecture, it doesn't fit anything. The cracking concrete you mentioned is going to be a nightmare for maintenance costs down the line. And yeah, the irony of no books in either building is pretty rich. At least the ballroom serves a clear diplomatic function. The library seems more like a monument to ego than anything serving the public good.
Thanks and welcome to Ricochet Cafe! Michelle Obama is from Chicago and had some ties to the political machinery there; in 1991 she worked for the mayor and she worked with at least one politically oriented nonprofit. Michelle can rightly claim Chicago, but Barack was more of a visitor there--and I notice he and Michelle hardly ever go back.
This comparision is realy eye opening. The Obama library situation is wild when you break it all down like this. The fact that he got a 99 year lease on public park land, displacing a historic Black neighborhood, and then the building ends up costing almost triple the original estimate is something that should have gotten way more scrutiny. And the digital only records thing is suspicious as hell, especially when you compare it to how every other presidential library handles their archives. The part about Obama barely living in Chicago but claiming it as his home base for the library feels like pure political calculation rather than any genuine connection to the city. What gets me is the aesthetics of that building. You're absolutly right that some things are objectively ugly, and that concrete tower is just brutal. It doesn't fit the neighborhood, it doesn't fit Chicago architecture, it doesn't fit anything. The cracking concrete you mentioned is going to be a nightmare for maintenance costs down the line. And yeah, the irony of no books in either building is pretty rich. At least the ballroom serves a clear diplomatic function. The library seems more like a monument to ego than anything serving the public good.
Thanks and welcome to Ricochet Cafe! Michelle Obama is from Chicago and had some ties to the political machinery there; in 1991 she worked for the mayor and she worked with at least one politically oriented nonprofit. Michelle can rightly claim Chicago, but Barack was more of a visitor there--and I notice he and Michelle hardly ever go back.
The Obama Library is shocking.
TDS mutated into BRDS. Ball Room Derangement over Orange Man Bad coOpting dancing with the stars.