Scott Gurvey's Public Offerings

This is a great picture in these troubled times. All four of the living former Presidents of the United States, and First Ladies, gathering in Chicago for the opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center. It was an uplifting event, full of hope and optimism for the future of a country about to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its birth. The only downside was that we found ourselves noting how remarkable it was. This is how it should be.

It was a fitting memory of those eight years of Obama’s history-making presidency. Something I thought I would never live to see as I grew up in the 1960s, during the turmoil of the civil rights protests. For four years I rode my bike, weather permitting, right past the spot in Jackson Park where the Obama Center now stands. I was going from our apartment just north and east of the location to my high school in the middle of the University of Chicago campus, just to the west.

The ceremony was, like the Obamas themselves, classy and dignified. President Obama spoke not about himself, but about the accomplishments of the team he put together in Washington. He focused on rejecting political cynicism, defending American democracy, and honoring the South Side community that shaped his early career. He said, “I found my purpose here, and I fortified my faith here, and I found my community here.” He noted that the Jackson Park location sits near where he met Michelle, where they married, and where his daughters took their first steps.

President Obama stated he did not want the center to feel like a static “mausoleum” or evoke “nostalgia for some gauzy, bygone era.” Instead, he designed it to address the “unfinished business” of progress. He described democracy as frustrating, slow, and inefficient, but called on visitors to view the center as an affirmation of why democracy is so precious. He explicitly urged us to reject growing cultures of mistrust, declaring that giving in to cynicism would be a “betrayal of our founding ideals.” He closed his speech by channeling 19th-century abolitionist Theodore Parker, describing a “defiant call not to abandon hope or give way to fear,” reminding the crowd that the country must keep fighting even in the face of impossible odds.

What few political zingers were heard came from former First Lady Michelle Obama, who introduced her husband. She praised her husband’s resilience under fire, redefining what a “lasting legacy” means, and positioning the Center as a refuge from modern political chaos. She addressed him directly, saying, “Eight years in the crucible and not once did you melt in the heat. Not once did you let it harden you.”

“You were unflappable at every turn, always focused, always calm, always looking at the long view,” the former First Lady said to her husband. “How absurd it is to even imagine that you might have buckled under the pressure even once, lashed out in frustration, lost your temper. How absurd it is to imagine that you might have done anything but make our family and this entire country proud.”

“No, you were too busy. I’m not done, y’all! Not done,” Mrs. Obama continued as the crowd roared with approval. “So much to say. You were doing the people’s work, rescuing our economy, expanding healthcare, ending a war, ordering the Bin Laden raid, saving an auto industry, winning a peace prize.” Seated in the wing, Hillary Clinton burst out laughing at the obvious jab and President Obama laughed along with her.

We shall leave he-who-was-not-directly-named to sit in the Oval Office fuming. This was a private, not a state event, and he was not invited. The Obamas live in his head to this day.

The entertainers included John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Hudson, Bono, the Roots, Christina Aguilera, Common, Marc Anthony.

It is not just a look into the past, but a living testament for the future.

It was as it should be.

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