President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama welcomed invited guests to their Obama Presidential Center in Chicago on Thursday, one day ahead of its grand opening to the public on Juneteenth.
“Our story begins on the South Side of Chicago. For me, it was here where hope took root. It’s where I started knocking on doors, where I learned to listen and found my voice, where I fell in love with Michelle and built a family and a community and a home,” Barack Obama shared in a voiceover. “Today, we open the doors to the Obama Presidential Center, a place rooted in this community and built on a simple belief that we can come together and create the change we seek.”
“We. It’s the single most powerful word in a democracy: We the people. We shall overcome. All things are possible. Yes, we can. ‘We’ includes everyone, and this place does, too,” he continued. “Nineteen acres in the heart of Jackson Park, where people can get inspired, leaders get amplified, where you can connect with folks who live down the street or across an ocean. Here you can do more than reflect on change, you can become it. That’s what the South Side taught us. It’s what we taught our girls, what generations have passed down to their kids. The progress isn’t bestowed from on high, it grows from the ground up with hard work and courage and faith in each other. We’ve proven it before, now let’s do it again.
Together.”
The $850 million center is more than just your typical presidential library — it’s a museum, an athletic compound, a playground, a vegetable garden and, yes, a Chicago Public Library outpost. It took five years to complete via private donations from the Obama Foundation.
Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Joe Biden were all in attendance, accompanied by Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Dr. Jill Biden. Other notable guests included world leaders like Matteo Renzi, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, Justin Trudeau, Angela Merkel and former Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as Sasha and Malia Obama. Pastor Joel Hunter and Joshua DuBois also shared an invocation.
The Thursday ceremony kicked off with house band The Roots, followed by Jennifer Hudson, who performed the national anthem and “The Impossible Dream (The Quest).” The festivities also featured Bruce Springsteen, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera, Common, Eddie Vedder, Guitars Over Guns and Uniting Voices Chicago, as well as a “One World” global performance from Marc Anthony, Tems, Bono and The Edge.
“As we prepare to welcome visitors to the Obama Presidential Center, the President and Mrs. Obama can’t wait to see community members make the campus their own,” Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett said in a statement. “The Center was built to be a place where people can gather, have fun, find inspiration, make connections and bring change home.”
“People are a little discouraged right now,” Barack Obama noted Wednesday on “GMA.” “But again, I believe that we go through these cycles and there’s going to be a younger generation that pops up and there are going to be leaders who pop up.”
“People just have to be fed up enough. They have to want more,” Michelle Obama added. “I think the Presidential Center, hopefully, will remind people of just how close we are to moving this country in the direction that we want to move it in.”
