Obama 'Star Wars' center reflects former president’s vision, legacy

It’s been nicknamed the ‘Obamalisk’ and compared to a Star Wars spaceship and the Eye of Sauron from ‘The Lord of the Rings’.

Barack Obama’s $850-million-dollar presidential center in Chicago has generated significant attention even before the Democratic former president officially opens it on 18 June.

Obama’s is the latest, and perhaps most audacious, example of the peculiarly American genre of monuments that US leaders have erected to themselves after leaving office.

Causing the most controversy is its centrepiece, the near-windowless, 225-foot granite obelisk that houses the museum devoted to the first Black US president.

President Donald Trump, no fan of either Obama or modern architecture, has unflatteringly compared it to a trash can.

But the people behind the Obama Presidential Center insist that, despite its brutalist appearance, the monument reflects the core messages of his presidency from 2009 to 2017.

“It’s a permanent home for hope,” said Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the Obama Foundation and a former top White House aide during his presidency.

The monolithic museum is the anchor for a bigger 19.6-acre site in Chicago’s South Side, which has long been home to Barack and Michelle Obama.

It includes a giant basketball gym dubbed the ‘Home Court’ as a tribute to Obama’s love of shooting hoops.

There is also a sprawling playground and a public library. But unlike the other 15 official US presidential libraries, it will store archives digitally instead of having physical copies.

Locals complained when it was announced in 2018 that the centre would be built on a piece of green space, but the Obama Foundation stated that it is meant to be at the heart of the community.

“Obama was heavily involved in the design, almost too heavily at times,” Jarrett said.

“He is a bit of a frustrated architect, and so he had a lot to say about the way the building was designed,” she added.

The building features giant stone letters on the top spelling out part of a speech that Obama gave in 2015 in Selma, Alabama, the cradle of the civil rights movement.

The museum itself begins with the ‘Hope and Change Lobby’ and moves on to a colossal four-storey-high screen showing scenes of the Obamas and the civil rights movement.

At the top is a stunning ‘Sky Room’ with views over Chicago, where visitors can physically look through the words of Obama’s speech.

A restaurant sells ‘The Obama Burger’ for $15.50.

The first floor has items from the young Obama’s life, including a cast of his handprint. The second floor moves on to his 2008 US election win, while the third celebrates the achievements of his presidency.

One of the most striking exhibits is an exact replica of Obama’s Oval Office, where visitors can sit behind the full-scale Resolute Desk.

The comparison between Obama’s rather minimalist version and Trump’s maximalist, gold-accented Oval is plain, if unspoken.

Trump is a major presence throughout the museum.

He succeeded Obama in 2017 and has since tried to dismantle everything the Democrat did. But the “hope and change” messaging throughout the centre tries to look past the last Trump-dominated decade.

Michael Strautmanis, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of the Obama Foundation, said, “We’re not focused on a particular narrow slice of this moment or of history.”

“This is something that is much more about inspiring new leaders,” Strautmanis, who served in Obama’s first administration, stated.

Critics have been divided over the Obama Center’s architecture. The New York Times called it ‘cold and forbidding’, while the Washington Post described it as a time warp.

Architects Billie Tsien and Tod Williams brushed off the criticism, saying that Obama himself was inspired by the chunky works of the modernist Romanian sculptor.

Tsien said, “the solid form was partly dictated by the fact that museums often don’t have many windows.”

“At the same time, this is a marker of building; it is a marker of a particular presidency,” she also said.

Obama himself has poked fun at the Star Wars comparisons, appearing in a video with actor Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, with the museum towering over them.

“This isn’t a monument to my legacy; it’s a gateway to yours,” Obama said.

But, of course, Trump is another president focused on his legacy.

He has announced plans for a Trump Presidential Library in Miami featuring its own Oval Office and an Air Force One jet.