Obama Library to open in June after Trump trashed it. And Trump's not invited. Here it is. I mean, look, President Obama and if I if he wanted help, I'd give him help [00:00:17] because I'm a really good builder and I build on time on budget. He's building his library in Chicago. It's a disaster. And he said something to the effect, I only want di. I only want willc. He wants woke people to build it. Well, he got woke people and they have massive cost overruns. [00:00:36] The job is stopped. I don't know, it's a disaster. And I don't like that happening because it's. I think it's bad for the presidency that a thing like that should happen. He's got a library that's a disaster. And he wanted to be very politically correct. And he didn't use good, hard, tough, mean construction workers that I love. [00:00:55] Marco. I love those construction workers. But he didn't want construction workers. He wanted people that like, never did it before. And he's got a disaster in his hands. Like millions of dollars. Many, many. I mean, really many millions of dollars over budget. [00:01:11] And I would love to help him with it, but or somebody else, I could recommend professionals, but it was not built in a professional manner. Trump so wants to be friends with Obama. He just doesn't know how to ask properly. He does. Trump doesn't know how to be vulnerable. [00:01:28] So Obama, I really liked you. As a matter of fact, I want to be like you. There, I said it. He wants Obama to say, why hasn't he called me? I could have him and I could have been working together on this. [00:01:47] So what's the latest status on how it's going? Here it is. It's easy to look around right now and feel like the challenges we face are simply too big. But hope is not about ignoring the hard stuff. It is that thing inside us that insists something better awaits [00:02:05] if we're willing to work for it. Here on the south side of Chicago, Hope is getting a permanent home starting on June 19th. You can visit the Obama Presidential Center, a campus with a world class museum, a new branch of the Chicago Public Library, sweeping [00:02:22] green spaces filled with public art. Yes, a basketball court and more. This is a place where a child from next door or across the globe can sit behind the Resolute Desk and imagine how they could help create a better world. [00:02:40] All week long, we'll honor all the people who've been with us on this journey, from those who helped launch our campaign, served in my administrations, and helped build the center. To all of you who want to turn hope into action. [00:02:55] This is not a monument to the past, it's living destination for people who refuse to accept the status quo. Trump going to be pissed. Okay, put it up for mass. I mean, sir, his presidential center is bigger than yours. [00:03:12] If you get around to. Sorry. It's Friday. It's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday. A decade, if that's what a woke construction worker would get you. Please send them my way. [00:03:32] A decade after former President Barack Obama announced Chicago as his choice for what was then billed as a presidential library, the Obama Presidential Center has an opening date. [00:03:51] An invitation only dedication ceremony will take place June 18th, featuring yet to be named entertainers and speakers. The opening celebration in Chicago promises a mix of political heavyweights, but amid all the excitement around the sprawling campus and its mission, [00:04:07] a certain president's name was missing from the star studded guest list. Former Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett clarified the situation during an appearance on Miss Now. Asked whether Trump had received an invitation, Jarrett said, quote, as I said, [00:04:24] this is really a chance for us to celebrate with the people who joined President Obama on this journey, the ordinary people who did the extraordinary things. So no, she added, adding that Trump would still be welcome to visit the center once it opens to the public. [00:04:40] Members of the public will be welcomed for their first look on June 19th, coinciding with Juneteenth. Okay. The celebration will continue through June 21st with an open house style schedule of live performances, family friendly activities, food, art, and storytelling [00:04:59] seems to be a hell of a place. Admission is free to the majority of the center's amenities, including the surrounding grounds, but the museum itself will require time ticketed entry. The fee structure has yet to be announced, but quote will be in line [00:05:14] with other Chicago cultural institutions, officials said. Tickets will go on sale May in May, with details still to come. While the opening of the center is expected to be an economic boom to Chicago, its construction has not been without some controversy. [00:05:29] The site choice of historic Jackson Park and the seating of 20 acres of public land drew criticism and resulted in a protracted lawsuit. The height of the museum, which towers over the community at 225ft, [00:05:45] also came under fire. Residents of surrounding Southside neighborhoods concerned about gentrification and rising housing prices, pressed hard for community benefits agreement to preserve affordable housing. Typically those agreements and they were ripe for pushing forward. [00:06:04] And I'm not sure to what extent Obama was involved in the advocacy, but those agreements are centered around the local government to make sure that particular developments do not price Mama them out of their home. [00:06:19] These are agreements and movements that I've been a part of for damn near 15 years. And so it is actually a negative, in my opinion, that, more emphasis wasn't put on making sure that mama them would never have to leave their residence due to gentrification or the rising cost of property tax. [00:06:40] Alright. Jordan, thoughts here? I mean, when he said woke construction workers, right? I mean, my first thought was that, I don't know if you remember the fifth Harmony music video for work from Home where they're dancing around in the construction outfits. [00:06:55] Like that's what I imagine he thinks. That's what that's exactly what he thinks. Yeah. It's just like just a diverse group of women dancing around and like, sure, like short jeans and tool belts. But it's like ludicrous. [00:07:12] He's like, Obama lives in his head rent free. It's kind of hilarious. Yeah, I just, I'm interested. I know it's going to be impossible to see because so many people are going to want to go there. But I, yeah, I really am interested by presidential libraries. [00:07:27] I went to the FDR library last summer in Hyde Park, and it was like a very emotional experience because you're thinking about how he guided the country through some of the most difficult times in the last century. Like he's, you know, he's to the Great Depression, World War two. [00:07:44] And then obviously, like, they, they fully acknowledge some of the bad parts of his presidency, like internment camps for Japanese people. And I was just like, very like moved by how that because it also like the depression hit my hometown very hard. I'm thinking about my, my, my grandparents. [00:08:01] So I'm curious how they handle and I think they'll be, you know, pretty honest and transparent with some of the stains on Obama's legacy. I'm always intrigued by how they handle moments like that. Yeah. I gotta tell you, man, I, I have a similar, feeling and connection to the [00:08:19] Carter Center, which is here in Atlanta, and I work with them as a senior advisor. And I remember the first tour I did of the Carter Center some years ago. I didn't know that President Carter was an artist. And so he paints. [00:08:35] And so around the center, you will see his development as an artist over the years. And this was kind of a secret hobby of, like his, his therapeutic expression, his artistic ability. And you also see as he moves through his political life [00:08:53] and becomes more, let's just say, cohesive in his political ideology and more bold about it, that his artistic expression became more bold as well, and more exciting to watch. So yeah, it's, it's, it's something to go through those, those chambers [00:09:11] and those pictures and historical moments and you see the, the fullness of a person in the development of a human being over time. And that's what leadership should do to you. It should develop you over time. You should not shrink the position. The position should make you expand.