June 23, 2026 • 10 mins
Buck takes aim at the newly opened Obama Presidential Center. From its nearly $1 billion price tag to its towering design, Buck argues the project is less a presidential library and more a monument to the Obama brand. He breaks down the cost, the controversy, the architecture, and why he believes the center reflects the legacy of the Obama years.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Obama Presidential Library is finally open. I know you
could not be more excited about this. Yesterday they held
a big grand opening ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center
in Chicago's Jackson Park, and today the doors swing open.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
To the public.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
A star studded event, of course, gotta have a lot
of celebrities.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
That involves Obama, multiple former.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Presidents on stage, performances, all that stuff, the whole nine yards.
They're calling it a presidential library, but it's really a museum,
a forum, a community campus. Two hundred and twenty five
foot tower PLoP down in a historic park, and let
me tell you, it is the ugliest thing I think
I have seen in the architectural realm since the Death
(00:46):
Star got blown up by its vulnerable area. Because this
is all this is a perfect example actually of Obamaism,
self indulgent, grandiose week results, and just completely and hilariously
short on self awareness.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Okay, let's start with the cost of this thing, because
that's always fun.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
This Obama project began with estimates around three hundred million,
then it went to five hundred million, Then it went
to seven hundred million for construction alone. The latest all
in figure from the foundation itself sits at about eight
hundred and fifty million. That's private donations, they'll tell you,
And yeah, but there have also been hundreds of millions
(01:31):
in public funding needed in infrastructure spending by the city
and state to get roads, utilities and access and all
that sorted out for this shrine to Obamaism. The taxpayers
help foot the bill for this whole thing, this monument
to Obama's love of Obama, and the main event, big
(01:55):
check Shore, came from donors. Now what do you really
get though, for a billion dollars? We get this tall,
stark concrete and granite tower and it dominates the landscape
around it. There's a basketball court they're calling Home Court
exhibition space. It's not a traditional presidential library with the
(02:15):
physical archives of the administration. That stuff lives elsewhere, digitized
actually within our National Archives. This is a branded experience center.
This is like an Obama amusement park. It's a place
where the Obama brand is burnished. And they did this,
of course, in a public park in a city that
(02:38):
has struggled mightily on its south side for decades, in Chicago.
So then there's the opening itself, though, which I think
is perfect as well. They kick things off with you
guess that a land acknowledgment the ritual recitation, recognizing I
want to make sure I get this right. The Anishanabe people,
(02:59):
the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwey, the Ottawa, Potawatamie,
and others as the original stewards of the land. We
know that for the Libs, this self congratulatory nonsense is
pre standard at these events. Solemn, scripted and completely empty space.
As a practical matter, doesn't alter property rights, resolve any
(03:21):
historic grievances, or change the fact that a massive private
foundation just built a permanent concrete complex on what used
to be open public park space pure gesture and branding.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
They're not going to do anything, so why do.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
This whole I'm sorry to the Ojibwey and the Pottawatamie people.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Are they sorry?
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Like?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Do they care? No? Of course not.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Same people who lecture everybody else but land in history
and centering marginalized voices do this merely to preen morally
in front of others, to feel superior for putting nothing
on the line and doing nothing of substance. All of this,
of course, for obama Ism and As for the building itself,
(04:07):
let's just be honest about this.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
It is really ugly.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
It's not challenging or bold or contextually modern or breaking
down barriers of previous architectural aesthetic, or any of the
other stuff that's being said about this thing.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It is ugly.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
It is a two h twenty five foot tower of
solid mass concrete gray granite rising out of Jackson Park
like a bunker. And it just looks so out of place.
It's Soviet style, a death star. And I saw a
fortress of self congratulatory obama Ism. And they talked about
(04:48):
inspiration from early Chicago skyscrapers and carved ornamentation, but they
completely failed in that. Chicago, whatever you think of the city,
the skyline is beautiful, the skyline is wrecked. Disable it's historic,
it's esthetic, it's pleasing, it's grandiose in the best sense.
What you have here looks like some kind of doomsday
(05:10):
bunker for libs who want to sit around with their
purple hair and their nose rings and the clothing that
they've made themselves out of reclaimed hemp, drinking their soy
milk lattes. Talking about the Potawanomy peoples.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Of the past.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
So yeah, this is a celebration of the Obama brand.
It has nothing to do with presidential history really, And
let me just remind everybody post Obama presidency, it's not
like they faded into the background. The Obamas are full
blown celebrities now and that is their brand. There's the
(05:48):
massive book deals. I think actually a Michelle Obama book
came out the same week as my book, Manufacturing Delusion,
which is actually a book that I wrote and a
book worth reading, and you should go get a copy
for Father's Day. But they've had book deals that are
just ways to pay off the Obama's post left wing
(06:10):
radicalization of the country. They've had Netflix deals. They now
have this nearly billion dollar physical shrine on the South
side of Chicago. Of course, the speaking circuit, the podcast,
the production company stuff. So it's not enough for Obama
to have served two terms and left office and still
(06:31):
have the media carrying water for them all the time.
This is a brand that, as we know, requires constant tending.
The narrative must be actively managed and monumentalized, and the
adoration must continue.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
And that's really what this is about.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Self indulgent Obama in the extreme. This is a personal
legacy project on a scale that other presidents have issued,
funded by the wealthiest of donors, and dressed up somehow
as community empowerment.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
See about that.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
The cost runs were enormous, The structure is ugly if
to wonder who's actually going to go to this thing?
But this reminds me of the pattern we saw during
Obama's presidency. Itself lofty rhetoric, all wrapped up in hope
and change, unity nonsense. Then with the actual outcomes disappointing
(07:22):
in the extreme, lots of symbolism and promises, very weak substance,
self awareness depthsit here is genuinely laughable. They open this
concrete tower with a land acknowledgment that cast and remember
this tower costs almost a billion dollars, and then they
say it's a gift of the community. They position themselves
(07:43):
in this as the Obamas as humble public servants while
constructing a stalinesque monument to.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Their own greatness.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
And this is all about telling the story for decades
to come about the Obamas, that is disconnected from the
reality of what it was like during their presidency. How
they did not unify people, they were not successful. Obama
care one of the single most disastrous things ever done
in the American healthcare system, just made everything more expensive
(08:14):
and worse. So look, yeah, I get it. Every former
president gets a library a center of some kind. There's
a tradition there and it exists for some good reasons.
But most of them managed to do it with a
little bit of restraint, a little bit of humility, and
some care and what they were actually supposed to be
doing here. But this feels like, like as I've said
(08:35):
all along, an overview of Obamasm itself, everything is about
the optics. Everything is about the brand, the elevation of
things beyond what they really are in terms of results.
So yes, the tower will stand, the tours will run,
the Obama Foundation will which I think has had a
really hard time raising money. But anyway, which is kind
(08:57):
of surprising, we have just an expensive self referential monument
that is a massive attempt at rewriting history instead of
preserving it. So there you have it. That is the
Obama Presidential Library. For you, our sponsor here is super short.
You own a business, then you know all about business insurance.
(09:19):
It's not your favorite topic because you know it can
be a big pain.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
But if you do it right. It's so so.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Important and so good for your business. So that's why
Supershure is there for you. This is a company that
changes all the headaches of the past when it comes
to getting business insurance. If your company has more than
twenty five employees, whether you're the owner, CFO or HR manager,
it's just too complicated to buy a policy online. You
want to talk to someone and understand what you're buying.
Super Sure is the super agency built for business owners,
(09:46):
license in every state for your business insurance and employee benefits,
all with year round support for you and your team.
At supershore dot com slash buck, you can access tools
like fine print Facts, which translates your current policy into
play in English so you can see what's covered and
what's not. Plus a business value calculator so you can
estimate what your business is worth so you know what
actually needs protecting. Go to supershort dot com slash buck.
(10:07):
One super agency, one powerful platform. That's supershort dot com
slash Buck. Supershort dot com slash Buck paid for by
super Short Insurance Agency, LLC, a licensed insurance agency that
is the show shield time
The Obama Presidential Library is finally open. I know you
could not be more excited about this. Yesterday they held
a big grand opening ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center
in Chicago's Jackson Park, and today the doors swing open.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
To the public.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
A star studded event, of course, gotta have a lot
of celebrities.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
That involves Obama, multiple former.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Presidents on stage, performances, all that stuff, the whole nine yards.
They're calling it a presidential library, but it's really a museum,
a forum, a community campus. Two hundred and twenty five
foot tower PLoP down in a historic park, and let
me tell you, it is the ugliest thing I think
I have seen in the architectural realm since the Death
(00:46):
Star got blown up by its vulnerable area. Because this
is all this is a perfect example actually of Obamaism,
self indulgent, grandiose week results, and just completely and hilariously
short on self awareness.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Okay, let's start with the cost of this thing, because
that's always fun.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
This Obama project began with estimates around three hundred million,
then it went to five hundred million, Then it went
to seven hundred million for construction alone. The latest all
in figure from the foundation itself sits at about eight
hundred and fifty million. That's private donations, they'll tell you,
And yeah, but there have also been hundreds of millions
(01:31):
in public funding needed in infrastructure spending by the city
and state to get roads, utilities and access and all
that sorted out for this shrine to Obamaism. The taxpayers
help foot the bill for this whole thing, this monument
to Obama's love of Obama, and the main event, big
(01:55):
check Shore, came from donors. Now what do you really
get though, for a billion dollars? We get this tall,
stark concrete and granite tower and it dominates the landscape
around it. There's a basketball court they're calling Home Court
exhibition space. It's not a traditional presidential library with the
(02:15):
physical archives of the administration. That stuff lives elsewhere, digitized
actually within our National Archives. This is a branded experience center.
This is like an Obama amusement park. It's a place
where the Obama brand is burnished. And they did this,
of course, in a public park in a city that
(02:38):
has struggled mightily on its south side for decades, in Chicago.
So then there's the opening itself, though, which I think
is perfect as well. They kick things off with you
guess that a land acknowledgment the ritual recitation, recognizing I
want to make sure I get this right. The Anishanabe people,
(02:59):
the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwey, the Ottawa, Potawatamie,
and others as the original stewards of the land. We
know that for the Libs, this self congratulatory nonsense is
pre standard at these events. Solemn, scripted and completely empty space.
As a practical matter, doesn't alter property rights, resolve any
(03:21):
historic grievances, or change the fact that a massive private
foundation just built a permanent concrete complex on what used
to be open public park space pure gesture and branding.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
They're not going to do anything, so why do.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
This whole I'm sorry to the Ojibwey and the Pottawatamie people.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Are they sorry?
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Like?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Do they care? No? Of course not.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Same people who lecture everybody else but land in history
and centering marginalized voices do this merely to preen morally
in front of others, to feel superior for putting nothing
on the line and doing nothing of substance. All of this,
of course, for obama Ism and As for the building itself,
(04:07):
let's just be honest about this.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
It is really ugly.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
It's not challenging or bold or contextually modern or breaking
down barriers of previous architectural aesthetic, or any of the
other stuff that's being said about this thing.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It is ugly.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
It is a two h twenty five foot tower of
solid mass concrete gray granite rising out of Jackson Park
like a bunker. And it just looks so out of place.
It's Soviet style, a death star. And I saw a
fortress of self congratulatory obama Ism. And they talked about
(04:48):
inspiration from early Chicago skyscrapers and carved ornamentation, but they
completely failed in that. Chicago, whatever you think of the city,
the skyline is beautiful, the skyline is wrecked. Disable it's historic,
it's esthetic, it's pleasing, it's grandiose in the best sense.
What you have here looks like some kind of doomsday
(05:10):
bunker for libs who want to sit around with their
purple hair and their nose rings and the clothing that
they've made themselves out of reclaimed hemp, drinking their soy
milk lattes. Talking about the Potawanomy peoples.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Of the past.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
So yeah, this is a celebration of the Obama brand.
It has nothing to do with presidential history really, And
let me just remind everybody post Obama presidency, it's not
like they faded into the background. The Obamas are full
blown celebrities now and that is their brand. There's the
(05:48):
massive book deals. I think actually a Michelle Obama book
came out the same week as my book, Manufacturing Delusion,
which is actually a book that I wrote and a
book worth reading, and you should go get a copy
for Father's Day. But they've had book deals that are
just ways to pay off the Obama's post left wing
(06:10):
radicalization of the country. They've had Netflix deals. They now
have this nearly billion dollar physical shrine on the South
side of Chicago. Of course, the speaking circuit, the podcast,
the production company stuff. So it's not enough for Obama
to have served two terms and left office and still
(06:31):
have the media carrying water for them all the time.
This is a brand that, as we know, requires constant tending.
The narrative must be actively managed and monumentalized, and the
adoration must continue.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
And that's really what this is about.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Self indulgent Obama in the extreme. This is a personal
legacy project on a scale that other presidents have issued,
funded by the wealthiest of donors, and dressed up somehow
as community empowerment.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
See about that.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
The cost runs were enormous, The structure is ugly if
to wonder who's actually going to go to this thing?
But this reminds me of the pattern we saw during
Obama's presidency. Itself lofty rhetoric, all wrapped up in hope
and change, unity nonsense. Then with the actual outcomes disappointing
(07:22):
in the extreme, lots of symbolism and promises, very weak substance,
self awareness depthsit here is genuinely laughable. They open this
concrete tower with a land acknowledgment that cast and remember
this tower costs almost a billion dollars, and then they
say it's a gift of the community. They position themselves
(07:43):
in this as the Obamas as humble public servants while
constructing a stalinesque monument to.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Their own greatness.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
And this is all about telling the story for decades
to come about the Obamas, that is disconnected from the
reality of what it was like during their presidency. How
they did not unify people, they were not successful. Obama
care one of the single most disastrous things ever done
in the American healthcare system, just made everything more expensive
(08:14):
and worse. So look, yeah, I get it. Every former
president gets a library a center of some kind. There's
a tradition there and it exists for some good reasons.
But most of them managed to do it with a
little bit of restraint, a little bit of humility, and
some care and what they were actually supposed to be
doing here. But this feels like, like as I've said
(08:35):
all along, an overview of Obamasm itself, everything is about
the optics. Everything is about the brand, the elevation of
things beyond what they really are in terms of results.
So yes, the tower will stand, the tours will run,
the Obama Foundation will which I think has had a
really hard time raising money. But anyway, which is kind
(08:57):
of surprising, we have just an expensive self referential monument
that is a massive attempt at rewriting history instead of
preserving it. So there you have it. That is the
Obama Presidential Library. For you, our sponsor here is super short.
You own a business, then you know all about business insurance.
(09:19):
It's not your favorite topic because you know it can
be a big pain.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
But if you do it right. It's so so.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Important and so good for your business. So that's why
Supershure is there for you. This is a company that
changes all the headaches of the past when it comes
to getting business insurance. If your company has more than
twenty five employees, whether you're the owner, CFO or HR manager,
it's just too complicated to buy a policy online. You
want to talk to someone and understand what you're buying.
Super Sure is the super agency built for business owners,
(09:46):
license in every state for your business insurance and employee benefits,
all with year round support for you and your team.
At supershore dot com slash buck, you can access tools
like fine print Facts, which translates your current policy into
play in English so you can see what's covered and
what's not. Plus a business value calculator so you can
estimate what your business is worth so you know what
actually needs protecting. Go to supershort dot com slash buck.
(10:07):
One super agency, one powerful platform. That's supershort dot com
slash Buck. Supershort dot com slash Buck paid for by
super Short Insurance Agency, LLC, a licensed insurance agency that
is the show shield time
Host
Buck Sexton
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