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Jun 19, 2026, 1:04:38 PM (8 days ago) Jun 19

to Bob B., saljanmilo, George Beall, The Blackhorse Association, Tim Szumowski, DEAN HULL, Ed Szumowski, Nestor Bojarczuk, Don Casper, jpb...@aol.com, Gale Kaneshiro, Cheryl Clerico, Dawson Joyner

From: zbara...@gmail.com <zbara...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, 19 June 2026 11:15 am
To: zbara...@gmail.com
Subject: kass

Searching for Answers About Chicago’s Obama Center and Its Spooky “Death Star” Building

By David Bittinger

June 19^th, 2026

So, the Obama Center is having its grandiose opening today. It was supposed to open last October, but the Obama Foundation and big believers needed more time, more money, and more messages exhibited.

I’d say they also needed more of what’s been called by an indomitable journalist “The Chicago Way.” That way isn’t defined simply, but if you have your own Chicago history or are just a fair student of it, you have some idea. For decades, it struck me as a death grip on bedrock precincts and back rooms, with pats on the back delivered alongside elbows to the ribs.

Then the mayor role descended an aptitude or two and traditional Chicago graft diffused. The Detroit-ification of Chicago proceeds, but at least there’s a new tourist attraction packed full of messages.

The Obama Center is technically a “presidential library,” but it’s unlike the 15 previous presidential libraries, which were purposed as sites for historical research, with features meaningfully representing a presidency.

If you realistically consider the Obama Center — the way it was muscled onto previously protected Chicago lakefront and the focus of the entire enterprise — this is no library.

The Obama Center is a place of worship. You could call it The First Church of the Holy Machine or Sacred Sanctuary of The Progressive, but from any realistic perspective, it isn’t secular. I’ve been to many churches, a number of synagogues, and one mosque. Of course, these places of worship differ in focus but all were created to sustain a faith. So was this one.

The official name is The Obama Presidential Center / A Global Center For Change. (Don’t forget the tag line.) But this thing was not created as a storehouse of historical fact. It was created as a site for the faithful to refresh their faith and for others to acquire it.

The Center’s particular belief system is slickly marketed. It’s also symptomatic of my ex-hometown’s fake-hope past and little-hope present. Watching collectivist politics celebrated in this political theme park brings despair. This is 2026 Chicago’s idea of achievement?

Through a sentimental fog, I still recall the tough-skinned beauties of old Chicago. I appreciated many places in the rugged kingdom of Daley the First, from Harlan Berk Coins to Comiskey Park.

But the Obama Center seems somehow more politically sinister than Chicago’s traditional dead voters and wise guy aldermen sent to prison. It’s been aggressively insider-sponsored by a jurisdiction that’s remained comatose through the departures of Caterpillar, Boeing, Tyson Foods, Morton Salt, and many fed-up taxpayers. Even the Bears have given up bearing down in Chicago.

Would you like to question the source of the worshipful Obama political enterprise being the new face of a failing city? I sure would, but I could no more get an audience with His Hopeness than I could with another savior figure.

So here are a few questions posed by me (DB) about the Obama Center. They’re followed by answers I’ve drawn from statements of the Obama Foundation and associated believers, which I’m calling Chicago-Based Word (CBW).

DB: What’s with that bizarre building? Senator Ted Cruz touched off howls of hilarity among architectural critics and social media with his comment “Locating the Death Star in Chicago was a bold move.”

CBW: Obama Foundation Deputy Director Kim Patterson explained, “The building’s shape is meant to mimic four hands coming together to show the importance of our collective action.”

DB: Really, seriously? Well, if Star Wars wasn’t the inspiration for that thing, maybe it was the pyramidal buildings representing The Party’s authority in George Orwell’s novel 1984: the Ministries of Truth, Love, Peace, and Plenty. Did that literary architectural nightmare inspire this actual Chicago nightmare?

CBW: “When visitors look up at the Obama Presidential Center’s museum building, they’ll see three simple, powerful words: ‘You are America.’ Those words come from a speech that is especially close to my heart — the one I gave in Selma on the 50th anniversary of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.” — Barack Obama (Apparently the “Big Brother” style was just coincidental.)

DB: Does the Center actually have an Eleanor Roosevelt Fruit & Vegetable Garden?

CBW: Yes, according to the Obama Foundation, “to educate visitors on healthy lifestyles and environmental sustainability.” (DEI for vegetables should mandate the inclusion of turnips, even celery.)

DB: Does the Center’s posh, NBA-style “Home Court” exhibit represent some accomplishment of the Obama administration?

CBW: “It offers programs inspired by President Obama’s belief in the power of sports, mentorship, and connection.”

DB: Speaking of connections, who was the connected fundraiser already under investigation in 2005 when he arranged a sweet deal for then-Senator Obama’s Chicago mansion? Wasn’t his name Tony, maybe Big Tony? In 2008 — on the very day Barack became the presidential nominee — that Obama pal from the Outfit was convicted on 24 counts, including bribery, money laundering, and wire fraud. Is Democrat wise guy Tony featured in any Center exhibits?

CBW: (No comment.)

DB: Why did the Obama Foundation insist its political theme park be built on lakefront parkland previously protected from development? What about the many objections from preservationists and environmentalists? Is a massive building in the middle of that flyway worth the danger to migratory birds?

CBW: “The foundation is taking multiple steps to ensure the Obama Presidential Center has a positive impact for the migratory pattern on the site.” (The birds were unavailable for comment.)

DB: Aren’t many low-income residents of that Southside neighborhood being forced out by rising rents and speculation? Housing advocates point out that property owners are increasingly converting long-term affordable rentals into highly profitable short-term tourist rentals.

CBW: When asked about this specific pressure on affordable housing locally, the Obama Foundation declined to comment, citing “limited bandwidth” as they prepare for the Center’s opening.

DB: Did your foundation consider that Chicago’s lavish government pensions and kleptocratic governance had years ago pushed the city down the rabbit hole of financial wonderland? What is the current estimate of further infrastructure costs to be imposed on overtaxed Chicagoans by the Obama Center?

CBW: They’re estimated at $200 million. Currently.

DB: The costs of the Obama Center ballooned from an initial estimate of $300 million to approximately $850 million, plus over $400 million in public road modifications. Was all this just taken in stride by the 20-year politician who owns oceanside estates on Martha’s Vineyard and Hawaii plus red-brick mansions in Washington D.C. and Chicago? Is the Center just another painlessly afforded luxury?

CBW: “We didn’t build the Obama Presidential Center to celebrate my ability to bring about change. We did it to unlock yours . . . . This isn’t my center. It’s yours.” — Barack Obama

DB: Your Center’s exhibits tend toward cringey. There’s one on Obama’s 2008 election, Be the Change! Then there are the Yes We Can and Sky of Hope exhibits. Shouldn’t there be an exhibit about the president who’s repeated “I” and “me” more times than even Donald Trump? Wouldn’t visitors be impressed by a Poser of Pride exhibit?

CBW: The Obama Foundation describes the character of the exhibits at the Obama Presidential Center Museum as “dynamic, non-static, interactive, and deeply rooted in the grassroots power of ordinary people.”

DB: Hey, here are ideas for three more exhibits that would be dynamic, non-static and so forth! One on Obama’s 2012 “red line” warning to Syria about human rights violations, which he allowed to pass without action: Red Line Sunset! And an exhibit celebrating his administration’s use of the IRS to target conservative and Republican organizations before the 2012 elections: Auditing the Bad Guys. And one about —

CBW: The center aims to “inspire, empower and connect people to change their world,” functioning as a “hub that draws people in and then sends them out.” — Museum Director Dr. Louise Bernard

DB: Every presidential library since FDR’s has been a resource for historical research. But with the world’s strangest cathedral and exhibits of supplication, your Center provides a resource for creepy worship.

CBW: “We consistently put our values and principles into action.” — Obama Foundation

DB: Columnist John Kass called your Center “The Obama Temple of Adoration and Fealty.” Wouldn’t that name make your tourist attraction an even bigger draw?

CBW: It’s The Obama Presidential Center / A Global Center For Change. Say my name.

-30-

Bittinger lives in Wisconsin as a long-time refugee but glad grandfather, misses the Chicago and Glen Ellyn he recalls, admires fellow JKN readers brave enough to still live in Chicago and Mahler fans who still go to the CSO. He’s working up the nerve to go to a White Sox game this year.

Comments15

JAMES JENNINGS

June 19, 2026 at 5:26 am

Thank you Dave.
Lest we forget, Chicago could have had a billion dollar George Lucas Star War museum, privately funded on the lakefront, but, oh no, the “Enemies of the Park” and their woke allies scuttled the project. Not a peep out of this crew for Barry’s tortured self-indulgent hideous “death warmed over” rock in the park.

Daniel Krudop

June 19, 2026 at 6:58 am

I believe there was a lot of pushback from the park protection folks. However – Obama.

Chip Reavley

June 19, 2026 at 5:48 am

I for one will not be making plans to visit the OTAF in this lifetime.

Michael Rucinski

June 19, 2026 at 6:21 am

This temple could be dubbed part of the Great Exodus Trail, starting at the Loop and running all the way to Hammond, where Bear fans can meet to watch football.

Pat Hickey

June 19, 2026 at 6:27 am

Masterfully incisive, witty and on-point and a cloud of flak shall be tossed up by the witless Hopium addicts against this essay. Sir, this fine work will go national! Well done.

Mark P Horniacek

June 19, 2026 at 6:43 am

Look at the beautiful English Gothic buildings of the U of Chicago, walk through the Olmstead designed park, view the beautiful lake front and the Palladian Beau-Arts Museum of Science & Industry. Then look at this unavoidable monstrosity and cry. President Obama’s legacy to Chicago is to ruin much of it’s beauty.

Martha Williams

June 19, 2026 at 8:09 am

What is the purpose of a presidential library? Those I have visited have been interesting and even inspirational. Perhaps they should be built only posthumously.

Mark P Horniacek

June 19, 2026 at 8:57 am

Their original purpose was to assemble and store primary source documents relating to that president’s administration and so facilitate the research of historians and biographers; ie, put everything in one place with easy access and space to work. In other words, you need storage space, work areas, catalog facilities, sanitary facilities, maintenance facilities, operating space for security, and some nice and relevant decorations. Three Quaonset huts or your average small town library building will do.
Starting with Nixon and Reagan more elaborate displays [making them museums with a library attached rather than libraries with some museum decorations]. They have gotten way out of hand! Let’s see if Trump’s Presidential library reverses the trend. He has an affinity for extravagant display
, but real taste architecturally.

Chuck Wellek

June 19, 2026 at 8:53 am

In spite of all the flaws of the exterior architecture, it is the interior of this building with its Obama Shrine, gift shop, and restaurant that deserves our awe, praise and worship. The new Reverend Wright Chicken Coop Restaurant will offer world class cuisine with fresh chicken that fly in on there own…in other words America’s chickens have come home to roost…right there in the Obama Presidential Center restaurant!

Mark Isenberg

June 19, 2026 at 8:56 am

Hello Obama haters from a guy in Florida, Do you need a hug after STEVIE WONDER AND PALS sang praises to the former President on Thursday? Tickets are sold out thru November so while you have plenty of time to avoid going,others will and tourists and some may return depending on special events,etc. I subscribe here for John’s good sense on Chicago politics not his bias towards certain minority politicians and yes Obama took plenty of graft from Mr.Rezko etc.,early on. But no scandals in his White House for eight years compared to the current occupant,a New Yawker I could never vote for but my wife did. Bottom line? I may or may not resubscribe to this blog depending on John’s health but those of you who can’t see the value of Obama’s ugly exterior Center ON THE INSIDE,just mutter amongst yourselves and root for the sorry White Sox….

Brad Kaste

June 19, 2026 at 8:57 am

The foreboding edifice looks like something out of a Ridley Scott sci-fi movie. Approach at your own peril.

Tom Stark

June 19, 2026 at 9:02 am

Let’s not forget the worshiping press. CNN covered yesterday’s proceedings live for hours. Dwarfing coverage of events like presidential inaugurations and papal installments.

RoryRBP@ Peterson

June 19, 2026 at 9:02 am

If Trayvon Martin had a flak tower monument built to honor his legacy it would look like that.

Leo Manta

June 19, 2026 at 9:07 am

David,
Perfect synopsis of the temple to Allah on public land in south shore! Always amazed me how slick willy (Obama) blackmailed the city into allowing this monstrosity into the neighborhood. But the “great orator” got his way, on the city’s dime as well. Apparently all his “donors” vanished and millions are now owed to the poor schumcks that contracted to build this temple, most minority businesses that can ill afford not being paid. They too, smoked too much “hopium” and figured they were doing something important for the city! HAH! In any event, rest assured that after the hype and hoopla is over, Chicago wil get stuck for the tab – to maintain, provide security, and, no doubt, operate this edifice to Allah! Just a matter of time…stay tuned…

Karen Brozynski

June 19, 2026 at 9:24 am

It will be closed in 3 years. No funds available. The parks people said no to the star wars museum and no to a children’s museum, but this they said yes to. Ah the “r” word is a powerful last ditch tool.

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