Of course, at one time, ours did something useful, unlike the Obamausaleum...like watching for Soviet sneak attack...
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 ...
Yeah, I can see it. But that rictus grin reminds me more of Resident Go Brandon.
Donald should ship the official presidential portrait of Obama that has a jungle background. It would make a nice housewarming gift
I’ve visited the JFK library in Massachusetts, where the exhibits are basically in a windowless basement. There’s a huge open atrium overlooking the harbor, but you have to go downstairs to see any memorabilia. I thought it was a strange design.
No Klingon would design a prison that ugly.
Of course, at one time, ours did something useful, unlike the Obamausaleum...like watching for Soviet sneak attack...
What did Rush call it, “the Clinton house trailer and massage parlor?”
Looks like the box for the world’s largest refrigerator.
I’ll bet they were paid peanuts to do so.
Why does it have lettering. No one in chicago can read!
And it’s very hard to read even if they could.
“Das Flakturm”, (the Flak Tower).
CC
I was blown away by the “Beer Summit” wing, which celebrates police officers acting stupidly.
Exactly
Phase IV (1974)
Is that really it? Ugly as hell...
How incredibly APPROPRIATE that those meandering walks/driveways look like SLITHERING SNAKES.
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