Don’t call it a library.
The $1 billion Obama Presidential Center opened with huge fanfare last week in a park near the shore of Lake Michigan, but critics say what the public thinks is a library will function as the headquarters of s private foundation, promoting the 44th president’s left-wing worldview to future generations.
While every other modern presidential library houses that former commander-in-chief’s papers for public viewing, the Obama Presidential Center has no such component. Instead, Obamas presidential records are being stored elsewhere, though digital versions may one day be available there.
At its core, the center serves two purposes: a museum dedicated to Obamas presidency and the headquarters of the Obama Foundation, Obamas private nonprofit organization.
The sprawling 19.3-acre campus will host various leadership programs, while spaces there include a “Democracy in Action Lab,” conference facilities, foundation offices and a major athletic complex designed for and community programs â features not typically associated with a presidential library.
Signs reading “Bring Change Home” and “A Home For Action” surround the perimeter of the campus. The messaging mirrors how the Obama Foundation has described the center in its annual reports â not as a traditional presidential library, but as a “campus” and “living institution.”
“We are building more than a campus. We are creating a living institution that will inspire, empower, and connect the next generation of leaders,” the foundation’s 2024 annual report reads.
The center, which as of 2021 had cost well over $800 million and is believed to have eclipsed the $1 billion mark, is a departure from presidential libraries, in both scale and purpose.
“Usually, these libraries are a monument to a presidency and the presidency is in the past, its in the rear-view mirror,” Tevi Troy, a presidential historian and former administration aide, told Fox News Digital. “It looks like Obama wants to use it as some kind of activism center, something that continues to and his political views.”
Troy said the direction did not surprise him.
“Obama was a community organizer. Hes an activist. Thats how he came up, and it doesnt surprise me that he wants to go in this direction,” Troy said.
Obama himself offered a glimpse into how he views the centers mission during Thursdays opening ceremony.
“We designed the center not to be some lifeless mausoleum,” Obama said, while highlighting around the world.
Among them was a Polish human-rights lawyer behind more than 30 lawsuits involving refugees, climate policy, litigation.
“This center is devoted to lifting up their stories, giving them the tools and support they need to expand their impact,” Obama said.
Obama later underscored that mission in his speech.
“While we are non-partisan, we are not value-neutral. We have a point of view,” he said
Critics say Thursdays ceremony confirmed what they feared all along: The center seems designed not just to preserve Obamas presidency, but to carry his vision into the future.
The centers opening has reignited debate over whether the project evolved far beyond the traditional presidential library model for which many Chicagoans originally believed they were handing over their historic parkland.
The public land fight
The distinction matters because the center occupies roughly 19 acres of Jackson Park â Chicagos equivalent of New York’s Central Park â under a city leaders approved for a one-time $10 payment.
Opponents argue that transferring public parkland to a private foundation violated the public trust doctrine, a legal principle intended to preserve public assets for the public benefit.
Those challenges were ultimately unsuccessful in court, although critics note that the central public trust arguments were never fully tested on the merits.
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