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‘Like a Klingon prison’: inside Barack Obama’s audacious, near-windowless, $850m presidential library
The Guardian ^ | 06/02/2026 | Oliver Wainwright

Posted on 06/03/2026 12:22:26 PM PDT by DFG

The Egyptians had their pyramids. The Anglo-Saxons had their barrows. And the Americans have their presidential libraries – the chief difference being that the leaders the US venerates are usually still alive at the opening.

Lacking a royal family or a state religion, the US presidency has swelled to fill the void, transforming over the decades into a national personality cult, complete with its own secular temples to these powerful men. The latest pharaonic edifice is about to open on Chicago’s south side, where it looms on the skyline as a towering totem to the 44th president, Barack Obama. He might have seemed humble in office, but in his post-presidential, Netflix-producing afterlife, Obama has erected the largest, costliest and most audacious complex of them all. Behold the $850m Obamalisk – or, as it sometimes feels morbidly like, the Obamausoleum.

Previous presidential libraries have taken many forms, reflecting the values of their creators. Franklin D Roosevelt began the tradition in 1940, building a library in Dutch colonial style alongside his grave in upstate New York, which he hoped would be swarmed with “an appalling number of sightseers”. Since then, every president has followed suit in their quest for immortality, dreaming up ever larger museums and archives, conceived as hallowed places of pilgrimage. Lyndon B Johnson commissioned a brutalist hulk for Austin, Texas, a fitting symbol, its architect Gordon Bunshaft remarked, for “an aggressive … big man”. Ronald Reagan opted for a sprawling California hacienda, with a dedicated hangar for Air Force One, while Bill Clinton conjured a cantilevered metallic box in Arkansas – a literal interpretation of his promise to “build a bridge to the 21st century”.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Humor
KEYWORDS: ghobehomhadibah; hutlhqaplayinlijqip; klingonprison; library; lol; majqadenibqatlh; metallicbox; obama; obamalisk; obamanation; obamausoleum; osamaobama; ozymandias; yntyalagochukof
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To: eyeamok

81 posted on 06/03/2026 3:37:24 PM PDT by tsomer (a)
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To: Red Badger

BRUTALISM ARCHITECTURE!! UGLY AS HELL!!!!


82 posted on 06/03/2026 3:38:06 PM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion.....the HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: DFG

83 posted on 06/03/2026 3:46:56 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.)
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To: DFG
My first thought was, he lied in every word,
That hoary cripple, with malicious eye
Askance to watch the working of his lie
On mine, and mouth scarce able to afford
Suppression of the glee that pursed and scored
Its edge at one more victim gained thereby.

What else should he be set for, with his staff?
What, save to waylay with his lies, ensnare
All travellers who might find him posted there,
And ask the road? I guessed what skull-like laugh
Would break, what crutch 'gin write my epitaph
For pastime in the dusty thoroughfare,

If at his counsel I should turn aside
Into that ominous tract which, all agree,
Hides the Dark Tower. Yet acquiescingly
I did turn as he pointed; neither pride
Nor hope rekindling at the end descried,
So much as gladness that some end might be.


84 posted on 06/03/2026 3:54:14 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack
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To: Liz

This is expected, as comic books have phased out over the years.


85 posted on 06/03/2026 3:59:35 PM PDT by randomwalk (Liberalism is a psychosis...)
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To: DFG
Azkaban


86 posted on 06/03/2026 4:13:16 PM PDT by Apparatchik (Русские свиньи, идите домой)
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To: randomwalk

lol


87 posted on 06/03/2026 4:17:36 PM PDT by Liz (Winston Churchill: “Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.”)
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To: Magnum44

Amen brother - Who’s next


88 posted on 06/03/2026 4:39:29 PM PDT by Palio di Siena (Kralik…..you get the wallet)
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To: Ann Archy

From the 45 COMMUNIST GOALS in AMERICA:

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was
told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”

https://cultureshield.com/PDF/45_Goals.pdf


89 posted on 06/03/2026 4:49:23 PM PDT by Red Badger (Iryna Zarutska, May 22, 2002 Kyiv, Ukraine – August 22, 2025 Charlotte, North Carolina Say her name)
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To: DFG

Convert it to Section 8 housing in 10 years. They say it’snot really a library...nothing of substance in it, kinda like Barry.


90 posted on 06/03/2026 4:50:45 PM PDT by PhiloBedo (You gotta roll with the punches, and get with what's real..)
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To: Baldwin

It’s in Chicago. Graffiti is a given, probably a complete coating in a few weeks.


91 posted on 06/03/2026 4:53:23 PM PDT by Hootowl
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To: DownInFlames

It’s a wonder that it’s not in CHINESE................


92 posted on 06/03/2026 4:56:43 PM PDT by Red Badger (Iryna Zarutska, May 22, 2002 Kyiv, Ukraine – August 22, 2025 Charlotte, North Carolina Say her name)
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To: Mr Rogers

Those are “wrasslin’ title belts.”


93 posted on 06/03/2026 5:00:19 PM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: spokeshave

These look incredibly similar to Obamanation’s self adulation tower.


94 posted on 06/03/2026 5:09:08 PM PDT by NetAddicted (MAGA2024)
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To: T.B. Yoits

Brutal architecture? I bet his building gets the award for most brutal.


95 posted on 06/03/2026 5:11:55 PM PDT by NetAddicted (MAGA2024)
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To: Liz

Shouldn’t Big Mike be taller than Obamanation with her high heels?


96 posted on 06/03/2026 5:13:19 PM PDT by NetAddicted (MAGA2024)
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To: ComputerGuy

What album? Looks like Led Zeppelin.


97 posted on 06/03/2026 5:14:33 PM PDT by NetAddicted (MAGA2024)
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To: kawhill

Near windowless? Where are the windows?


98 posted on 06/03/2026 5:16:36 PM PDT by NetAddicted (MAGA2024)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Perfect name for that horribly ugly building - Obamausaleum.


99 posted on 06/03/2026 5:22:50 PM PDT by NetAddicted (MAGA2024)
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To: NetAddicted

Supposedly she’s just two inches shorter than the 6’
1” obama.

So in heels she’d be taller.


100 posted on 06/03/2026 5:23:08 PM PDT by Liz (Winston Churchill: “Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.”)
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