{"id":214364,"date":"2026-06-19T12:56:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T12:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/star-studded-opening-for-obama-library-in-chicago-delivers-implied-rebuke-to-trump-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T12:56:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T12:56:23","slug":"star-studded-opening-for-obama-library-in-chicago-delivers-implied-rebuke-to-trump-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/star-studded-opening-for-obama-library-in-chicago-delivers-implied-rebuke-to-trump-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Star-studded opening for Obama library in Chicago delivers implied rebuke to Trump – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Musical stars and retired politicians from less polarised era seeming antidote to cage fights on White House lawn
The Barack Obama presidential center opened in Chicago on Thursday after more than a decade in the making amid a musical fanfare and paeans to democratic principles that evoked a previous age, all while delivering an implied rebuke to Donald Trump<\/a>.
Featuring appearances by a cast of musical stars and retired politicians from a less polarised era, it was a seemingly perfect antidote to the crass spectacle of cage fights on the White House lawn.
Without naming the current White House occupant, Barack<\/a> and Michelle Obama<\/a> launched full-frontal attacks on Trump\u2019s authoritarian approach, depicting them as an affront to American values.
It was the former first lady who aimed the sharpest barbs at Trump \u2013 four days after an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) competitor called her \u201ca man\u201d during a bout held at the White House last Sunday to mark the US\u2019s 250th anniversary.
In a speech preceding \u2013 and in some respects, upstaging \u2013 her husband\u2019s address, she paid tribute to Obama\u2019s two terms in the White House. She pointedly denounced \u201cthe lies about your birthright\u201d peddled by Trump as he was eyeing a presidential run more than a decade ago \u2013 a reference to the \u201cbirth\u201d conspiracy that falsely claimed Obama had not been born in the US and was therefore unqualified to be president. The Obamas are a frequent target \u2013 and fixation \u2013 of the current president, who earlier this year shared, and then deleted amid outcry, a video clip depicting the couple as apes<\/a>.
\u201cHow absurd it is to even imagine that you might have buckled under the pressure,\u201d Michelle Obama<\/a> said. \u201cHow absurd it is to imagine that you might have done anything but make our family and this entire country proud.\u201d
She recited her husband\u2019s achievements \u2013 including \u201cending a war\u201d, \u201cwinning a peace prize\u201d and \u201clistening to science\u201d \u2013 a recitation that seemed to draw attention to some of Trump\u2019s most notorious sensitivities and weak spots.
Trump, who lobbied incessantly and unsuccessfully for last year\u2019s Nobel peace prize, frequently claims to have ended several wars, although the evidence for many of his claims is contested or thin. He has also been criticized for undermining the US\u2019s global scientific leadership role and for installing Robert F Kennedy Jr, a renowned anti-vaxxer, as health secretary.
Barack Obama\u2019s swipes at Trump\u2019s approach were less cutting but equally vociferous.
In a thinly disguised jab, he distilled American democracy as \u201ca belief that our military and law enforcement owe allegiance not to any president or political party, but to the people and our constitution, [and] a belief in the peaceful transfer of power after the people have spoken in fair and free elections\u201d.
With the former Republican president George W Bush<\/a> and his wife, Laura, in attendance, he went out of his way to name-check his erstwhile adversaries in a tribute to a bipartisanship that has been largely forgotten during Trump\u2019s era.
\u201cEvery president here today, as different as we are, has tried our best to uphold values that John McCain and Mitt Romney believed in, no less than I did,\u201d he said, extolling the qualities of \u201ccharacter, honesty, integrity, kindness, compassion, a sense of duty, and honor\u201d.
He added: \u201cThese are the values and traditions I believe in, and they are not Republican or Democratic values, they are American values we can all share.\u201d
Speaking after Trump had signed an agreement to end the war with Iran, Obama turned to US foreign policy, saying: \u201cAmerica has made its share of foreign policy mistakes. Our actions have not always matched our rhetoric.
\u201cBut at our best, the United States has been an undeniable force for good in the world. When we encourage cooperation between nations instead of trying to dominate and bully and squeeze every advantage just because we can, and most of all, when we show through our example here at home that even a country as big and diverse as ours can make democracy work, it turns out all nations, including ours, become more prosperous and secure.\u201d
The opening of the center, on Chicago\u2019s South Side \u2013 where the Obamas first met \u2013 was attended by two other former Democratic presidents: Joe Biden<\/a>, who was also Obama\u2019s vice-president, and Bill Clinton<\/a>, as well as Hillary Clinton<\/a>, who served as secretary of state in Obama\u2019s first administration.
Several current prominent Democrats considered likely contenders for the party\u2019s presidential nomination were also present, including JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, and Gavin Newsom<\/a>, California\u2019s governor, as well as several liberal-leaning elder foreign politicians. Among the latter were the former German chancellor Angela Merkel<\/a>, former prime minister Justin Trudeau<\/a> of Canada, and Matteo Renzi<\/a>, formerly Italy\u2019s prime minister.
Entertainment was provided by an impressive list of musical luminaries whose presence contrasted with Trump\u2019s enforced decision to cancel a 250th anniversary concert after several acts pulled out. There to mark the opening of the Obama center were Bruce Springsteen<\/a>, who sang Land of Hope and Dreams immediately after Obama spoke, Bono<\/a> and the Edge from U2<\/a>, and Stevie Wonder<\/a>.<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Musical stars and retired politicians from less polarised era seeming antidote to cage fights on White House lawnThe Barack Obama presidential center opened in Chicago on Thursday after more than a decade in the making amid a musical fanfare and paeans to democratic principles that evoked a previous age, all while delivering an implied rebuke […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":214365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-214364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}