Where Should the Obama Library be Located??

[OmahaBlueDog]

Hey -- the second term is about "Legacy"!

34 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	New York City, NY at Columbia
	0 (0%)
	Cambridge, MA at Harvard
	0 (0%)
	Chicago, IL
	18 (53%)
	Honolulu, HI
	12 (35%)
	Springfield, IL
	0 (0%)
	My State (explain below)
	1 (3%)
	Other (explain below)
	3 (9%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[elleng]

1. Honolulu and Chicago.

Good luck with that!!!

[OmahaBlueDog]

4. I think the NARA would urge against Honolulu because it would be difficult for many to visit

OTOH, I'd love to justify the Hawaii trip to perform "scholarly research."

(I've been to the Truman and FDR libraries, and they are well worth visiting).

[elleng]

8. Right, and Right,

which is why I said BOTH!

[Johonny]

25. I've been to the Nxion Library

and it is a laughfeast. You won't stop giggling the whole time your in it.

[TeamPooka]

66. I was at the Nixon library a few years ago and got a VIP tour along with.....Calista Gingrich

I used to represent a writer that worked with Newt as in "wrote all the fiction books" Newt plugs on FOX and takes all the credit for.
So they have this big signing at the library for the Washington or Gettysburg thing and I have to go.
I meet Newt and Calista, a woman I would never want to play poker with because she gave away nothing all day.
very close to the vest.

The head docent offers us VIPs a private tour, the museums closed for the special signing.
and while the "writers" Newt and Bill go to a special reception with museum donors I join the tour.
I studied Watergate and Vietnam and still to this day think Nixon (and Reagan) were the worst President the nation ever had.
So I'm curious about the museum.

The tour group is: my business partner and me, Calista Gingrich and the family of Rick Tyler Newt's aide (and the guy who wound up running his SuperPac last year) his wife and 10-12 year old daughter.
We go on the tour and Calista is fairly quiet the whole time.
There's Nixon , born poor, House of Rep, VP, President etc blah blah blah.

Then we hit an empty room.
I mean empty of everything to the point where wires and a light fixture are hanging loose from the ceiling.
This the docent tells us is the Watergate room.
He goes to explain how the media set up Nixon but since the National Archive is taking over the museum
(these things are expensive to run privately so you can control your message darn it)
they need to re-do the Watergate exhibit to make it:
and the docent actually uses air quotes here
"fair & balanced"
at this point I look around the empty room and chime:
"it looks pretty bi-partisan now."
And the whole room cracks up, even Calista.

and then the tour was over and I got to go back to Hollywood after the signing.
But my favorite moment was a right wing docent using Fox's term "fair & balanced" to mean "completely biased" in referencing the fact that the National Archive was requiring their museum to now be historically accurate.

[virgo7]

46. There are NARA facilities in Alaska

[JoeBlowToo]

76. Free tickets for everyone! The right wingers can stay home...

works for me.

[Richard_uk]

32. Wherever it goes

It will be in a better location, more visited and contain a lot more books than GW's library.

Books that have actually been read.

[elleng]

36. Right, and Welcome!

[TwilightGardener]

2. Chicago.

[graham4anything]

3. Chicago. All the way.

Most people can get to Chicago.
Most people can't get to Hawaii

[lovuian]

5. Chicago

sorry I broke the tie

[jberryhill]

6. The Internet

[OmahaBlueDog]

9. At this point, I think the actual documents are on the internet

The library also serves as museum and a repository of artifacts.

[jberryhill]

22. The preserved half-eaten pretzel at the W library is cool

It's next to Cheney's funeral parka.

[ellisonz]

7. Honolulu!

But I'm a former Hawaii resident.

[OmahaBlueDog]

10. I KNEW you'd say Honolulu

U of Hawaii wouldn't be a bad place for the library.

[ellisonz]

11. He's Hawaiian in his heart!

Manoa is the valley of rainbows.

It's where he was born and where his tutu's passed.

[bayareamike]

12. Kenya.

JUST KIDDING!

Chicago all the way.

[OmahaBlueDog]

15. TROLL! ;)

I thought about adding that as an option out of a sense of mischief.

[Arctic Dave]

26. LOL

That would be awesome just to see heads explode.

[bobclark86]

63. Damnit!

You stole my idea...

But seriously, shouldn't the people of Kenya get something nice for a change?

[hfojvt]

13. Liberal, Kansas

It will be the first time Obama goes liberal

but it won't really be liberal, because it is in Kansas

[OmahaBlueDog]

16. Interesting choice. Home of Bob Dole IIRC

It would also be the 2nd Presidential Library in Kansas (Ike's being the other one)

[hfojvt]

20. Dole's home was in Russell

I am not sure of his birthplace.

Russell is halfway towards being a ghost town. At least it was when I went there some 8 years ago. About half the town was vacant houses. I talked a little bit with Dole's sister who was living in his old home.

Dole, however, chose to put his own "library" in Lawrence, the most liberal city in Kansas.

[TheDebbieDee]

59. Wasn't his mom, Stanley Ann Dunham, born in Kansas?

[WinkyDink]

14. Chicago.

[PragmaticLiberal]

17. Hawaii...I believe it's where his heart his.

[Amimnoch]

18. Dallas Texas.

It should built right next door to the George W. Bush Library and Museum, and built in such a size and shape that W's library never gets so much as an inch of sunlight upon it. That way W's library will forever be living in the shadows of President Obama's library. Much as W's presidency is.

[Sivafae]

19. I said Hawaii, because that is where he was born and grew up.

Although, I am aware that Hawaiians believe themselves to be a country occupied by the US.

[Tx4obama]

21. Should be in Hawaii, but I'm hoping for Chicago so that I can go there one day before I die :) n/t

[TeamPooka]

23. Chicago would give more citizens and children easier access to visit than Hawaii

and than should be a strong consideration for this man who has given African-American children the understanding that finally, they too can grow up to be President.
Let's give them an easier cheaper chance to visit this hopefully inspiring place than to have to go to Hawaii, the most expensive place for a tourist in the country.

[Hekate]

41. Hawai'i has real people living there and the president was born & raised there

I grew up there myself -- and my 2 kids' birth certificates look exactly like the POTUS' except for the name -- and I know it is difficult for haoles and other Mainlanders to get it, but we really are a state and we don't exist just for tourists, but in our own right.

Part of the miracle of Barack Obama's presidency is that he is from such a very small and faraway place as the Islands. I still have not gotten over that. Every child in the Islands, every multi-multi-racial child, now knows the possibilities for them wherever they choose to go.

More than that, Hawai'i made Barack Obama who he is. Sure, Chicago is where he found his calling, Chicago is where he made his name and his life. But having read his first book with the eyes and heart of someone who grew up where he did, I can tell you, Hawai'i is in his very bones and heart. He grew up in the Crossroads of the Pacific, open-hearted home to many cultures and races, and to those with eyes to see, it shines forth.

I completely agree with you that Chicago is more accessible -- for Mainlanders. And I completely agree that Library #1 should be there. But Library #2 should be in Honolulu, at the University of Hawai'i, Manoa -- maybe even in the East-West Center where his father studied so long ago.

Aloha,

Hekate
Southern California resident, but you can tell where my heart lies

[riderinthestorm]

47. I truly understand your sentiment but lots of Presidents bypass their roots. Reagan with Dixon IL

is the biggest one that comes to mind. He was an all-Illinois boy whose presidential library is in Simi CA.



(thank gawd! )

[HubertHeaver]

53. Ronnie left Dixon and never looked back.

Last edited Mon Jan 21, 2013, 11:50 PM - Edit history (2)

His mother was said to have told one of his high school friends visiting California that they never knew how many friends they had in Dixon until they moved to California and got rich.

Edit: Used the wrong gnu.

[riderinthestorm]

61. LOL Too true. I love that story.

I saw your suggestion about NIU downthread. While I would love it since it would be about 25 minutes from my house and the Pres and the divine Mrs. O would be regulars out my way, I can't see it happening alas. If it comes to IL, I presume it will be U of C and the south side.

But still, anywhere in IL would suit me just fine!

[Politicalboi]

64. That turd is in my old backyard

And the freeway is named after him. We didn't deserve that.

[TeamPooka]

48. It's settled. Obama Museums for everyone! :)

even Alabama and Mississippi.

[petronius]

24. Here's a map at the Archives site - Chicago would put it square in the Library Belt

http://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/visit/

Hawaii would fill in a nice blank to the west, but can anyone make a case for Seattle or Portland?

[Recursion]

31. Washington's opens this summer

It only took 213 years to get his

[TeamPooka]

49. and in Chicago would be a nice offset to the Hoover and Ford museums nearest in the midwest.

[tridim]

27. Inside his head on Mt. Rushmore.

[mokawanis]

28. Chicago!

The obvious choice.

Also, because I live just a few hours from Chicago.

[mainstreetonce]

29. Washington DC

Next to his memorial

[derby378]

30. I say we get a reinforced pre-fab buidling up in the air with some heavy transport choppers...

...and use it to crush the Bush Presidential Library in Dallas County, TX. Then we build the Obama library there. Simple.

[TeamPooka]

50. I laughed out loud at this. Quite loudly I might add.

[derby378]

72. Glad I could brighten your afternoon!

[madrchsod]

33. on southside of chicago

[riderinthestorm]

34. Chicago. I love the symbolism of Lincoln's library in the south of IL, and Obama's in the north nt

[11 Bravo]

35. Nairobi.

Just fucking with ya, it's got to be Chicago!

[theglammistress]

37. I voted Honolulu

It would be a great asset for Hawaii.

[JoePhilly]

38. Kenya!!!!

Kidding!!!!

[Hekate]

39. Both Honolulu and Chicago

Since I could only vote for one, I gave Honolulu a bump.

[HubertHeaver]

40. At Northern Illinois University, De Kalb, IL.

Close to Chicago, easily accessible by highway (fittingly, the Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway to Nowhere) and plenty of room (bare land) to grow on.


edit to correct spelling error

[alcibiades_mystery]

42. Can and will be on the South Side of Chicago

[Tommy_Carcetti]

43. Kenya, just to screw with the Freepers. nt

[Whisp]

44. lol! that got me jiggling with laughter. n/t

[treestar]

54. lol!

[Warren DeMontague]

45. U of C.

Absolutely.

[Jackpine Radical]

51. Kenya, of course.

[treestar]

52. Chicago

Where he rose as a politician.

[NoOneMan]

55. Twitter

I mean really people, are future generations going to be able to handle more than 140 characters?

[orpupilofnature57]

56. Chicago, Geographically, Demographically, and Spiritually

the right place to be .

[SmileyRose]

57. Wherever he decides he'd like it.

[juajen]

58. I agree. Both.

[Kalidurga]

60. Chicago...

But, it would be kind of fun if it was in Kentucky by the Creation Museum so the moonbats would have to see it when they go to their Mecca.

[exboyfil]

62. Hawaii

Visit the Bishop Museum and the Palace while you are at it.

[MindandSoul]

65. No need for a "stone and concrete" library. Instead, Obama could offer a "digital library"

with free access for all!

This would make all the other Presidential libraries pretty much absolete!

[OmahaBlueDog]

69. Ya still have artifacts

I agree -- all of the document should be digital. That's the direction the archives is moving anyway. But the libraries also serve as museums and repositories of artifacts.

[Posteritatis]

67. Mars. (nt)

[mucifer]

68. Chicago !

[NYC Liberal]

70. Chicago. Hawaii is a bit inaccessible for many people.

If he had only minimal ties to Chicago then maybe not. But that's his home, he loves it there, so it's perfectly fitting.

[TheKentuckian]

71. I think it should be in Hawaii, he is the first President from the state and may be the last for

God only knows how long.

[OmahaBlueDog]

73. Not a single vote for NYC?!?!?!

Is Chuck Schumer NOT a DUer???

[bigwillq]

74. I voted for Chicago (nt)

[zipplewrath]

75. Depends

I'm not sure what he's planning on doing afterwards. That might have more to do with it. If his intent is to continue to work in the area of health care, insurance, or veterans care, it might make sense to associate with a teaching hospital/school of some sort.

[williamc1967txlib]

77. The library should be located in Chicago

After all, it was a very important city to Obama. Honolulu is another good place for the library.

[PoliticAverse]

78. The Internet. n/t