Chicago to make unified bid for Obama presidential library

[Redfairen]

Chicago is going to make one unified bid for President Barack Obama’s Presidential Library and Museum, with the University of Chicago and other city schools not making solo plays, Mayor Rahm Emanuel told me Thursday.

“We are going to run a process. But my goal is to have the City of Chicago, with its major educational institutions, have a single proposal,” Emanuel said.

.......


City Hall has already been working internally on the project, Emanuel said. “Let me say this. It is important for the city to have the president’s library in his hometown, and we will be very competitive in our proposal, and we have put a lot of thought into it.”

Emanuel — Obama’s former chief of staff — and I talked about Obama’s library and museum while he was here to attend the U.S. Conference of Mayors winter gathering and to work his former White House precincts. His comments come as Chicago’s primacy as the location of the Obama legacy project faces potential stiff competition from Columbia University in New York, which confirmed its interest in the project earlier this month.

Columbia’s vast financial resources and New York’s concentration of possible donors could make the school a contender even if Obama’s connections to the city are not strong. Obama received his undergraduate degree in political science from Columbia in 1983 after attending only two years. Former President Bill Clinton has his office in Harlem, not far from a site Columbia wants to offer.

http://www.suntimes.com/m/25143112-773/chicago-to-make-unified-bid-for-obama-presidential-library.html

[Arkana]

1. Why not put it in Hawaii?

That's where he was born.

[dlwickham]

2. because it's easier for researchers to go to Chicago

although it would be fun to be an Obama scholar and HAVE to go to Hawaii a few times a year to do "research"

[NYC Liberal]

4. Accessibility.

But I'm sure they could do something in Hawaii as well.

[frazzled]

3. Hyde Park has really been upgrading lately

Well, in a small way, but anyone who knows this lovely but decidedly un-amenified neighborhood, knows that getting a HOTEL, a MOVIE THEATER, and a chef-driven RESTAURANT in the neighborhood all in the past year is pretty much of a shock.

Hyde Park is beautiful, and has the best bookstores around: Seminary Co-op is exceptional, plus 57th Street Books and a Powell's. But honestly, for being home to a major university, there has never been a hotel to house visiting lecturers or families coming to graduation: now there's a new, if small, Hyatt. And while I love the Rajun Cajun (a mixture of Indian and soul food--how about some sag paneer with your fried chicken?), Ribs 'n Bibs has some mighty fine takeout barbeque, and Valois cafeteria is a sociological phenomenon unto itself—you're not really going to travel down there to eat. The fact that Matthias Merguez just opened a restaurant there must mean something.

I think Hyde Park is prepping (hoping) to get this library. That's the general area where Michelle is from, where the two of them lived for many years, and where a great number of African Americans both from here and around the country would feel welcome. It might not be Hyde Park, but I do think Chicago, a very African American city, is the appropriate place to house the library of the first African American president.

[ancianita]

5. I would think Obama would get the last word on where his 'hometown' is. Emmanuel is a manipulative

technocrat. The idea of a "unified bid" doesn't seem so impressive to me, and probably not to the President, either. It's really Obama's decision. And if where his daughters end up in college is a factor, Chicago might be edged out of the running.

Hyde Park has had a major upgrade recently, it's true. Not that that alone is relevant, but there is a call from the South and West Sides' black populations to have him settle it back somewhere in their midst. For Obama, that's personal.

[kairos12]

6. After Shrub's monstrosity in Texas, these organizers are just happy to not have to stock

up on crayons and paste...and shredders.

[Whisp]

7. Hawaii is why the President is who he is - a good and decent man.

His world view of community and helping people and all that is a Hawaiian thing more than a Chicago thing.

Excellent read here:
http://www.usnews.com/news/campaign-2008/articles/2008/05/30/obamas-hawaiian-roots-help-shape-his-political-beliefs

There are other important parts of Obama's past that also provide insight into his values and his modus operandi, but Obama says the "aloha spirit" remains his personal and political inspiration. "I do think that the multicultural nature of Hawaii helped teach me how to appreciate different cultures and navigate different cultures, out of necessity," Obama says. "That carries over now to the work that I do because obviously that's part of my job, not just as a candidate but also as a senator. The second thing that I'm certain of is that what people often note as my even temperament I think draws from Hawaii. People in Hawaii generally don't spend a lot of time, you know, yelling and screamin' at each other. I think that there just is a cultural bias toward courtesy and trying to work through problems in a way that makes everybody feel like they're being listened to. And I think that reflects itself in my personality as well as my political style."