{"id":14965,"date":"2025-12-14T22:26:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T22:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/?p=14965"},"modified":"2025-12-14T22:26:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T22:26:12","slug":"wsj-now-obama-says-hes-giving-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/?p=14965","title":{"rendered":"WSJ: “Now Obama says he’s giving back”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The sort of thing Trump would do…? This is almost funny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The former president finds a new way to honor himself.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody runs for president without a robust ego, and winning two elections for the nation\u2019s highest office is unlikely to lower anyone\u2019s self-regard. Still, it takes a special kind of nerve to bulldoze local opposition, pave over what used to be historic parkland, construct a monument to yourself and then describe it as a gift to your neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now our 44th president, Barack Obama, posts on<\/a> X:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chicago is where Michelle was raised, where I got my start as an organizer, and where we built a family together. When the Obama Presidential Center opens next June, it will be our way to give back to a city that has given us so much.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The city sure has given them a lot\u2014including more than 19 acres of what used to be treasured green space in Chicago\u2019s historic Jackson Park for Mr. Obama to erect his self-tribute. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the 19th century, the park has long been included on the National Register of Historic Places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever the public will be given in return, it will likely not include the ability to conduct thorough research on the Obama administration. The sprawling campus will not be a presidential library managed by the National Archives, but instead a sort of museum operated by the private Obama Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee Bey recently reported<\/a> for the Chicago Sun-Times on the center\u2019s first completed building, a 60,000-square-foot facility called Home Court:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The facility has six multipurpose rooms and an exercise area with equipment.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Home Court\u2019s largest single space is the 13,000-square-foot professional-sized basketball court with seating. It occupies the rear of the building and has a wall of windows providing eastward views to Jackson Park and the lake.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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The Obama logo \u2014 the letter \u201cO\u201d set against a striped curved horizon \u2014 is the center court emblem. The space also doubles as a banquet hall.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Remember when liberals were obsessed with preserving wetlands in their pristine natural state? The Obama project suggests that those days are definitely over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sort of thing Trump would do…? This is almost funny. The former president finds a new way to honor himself. Nobody runs for president without a robust ego, and winning two elections for the nation\u2019s highest office is unlikely to lower anyone\u2019s self-regard. Still, it takes a special kind of nerve to bulldoze local […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics-and-politics","category-silly-stuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14965"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14967,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14965\/revisions\/14967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}