A shrine to the community-organiser-in-chief

Δημοσιεύθηκε: 12 Μαΐου 2015 - 17:12

The epic search for a home for Barack Obama's presidential library has encapsulated all that is good and bad about his political style. On the minus side, the Obama Foundation's quest was shrouded in the kind of secrecy normally reserved for nuclear weapons sites - or perhaps the next headquarters of the Church of Scientology. Many in Chicago are left with the sense that the foundation's chief aim was to keep the Obama flame burning. Much like Mr Obama's approach to campaigning, his personal brand is front and centre.

Yet the plus side is also pretty striking. By choosing Chicago's South Side - to be exact, the leafy campus of Hyde Park, which sits like an oasis in the middle of America's largest urban wasteland - Mr Obama is returning to his 1980s roots as a community activist. In the wake of recent anti-police riots in Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, the timing of Mr Obama's selection is fitting. Chicago has the highest homicide rate of any large US city. The South Side is its Ground Zero. It is where Mr Obama cut his teeth as an activist more than three decades ago as a follower of Saul Alinsky, the Hyde Park-based radical.

Mr Obama's post-presidential act, which will bring an estimated 3,000 jobs and at least $600m to the area, is thus rich in both substance and symbolism. On the latter, Mr Obama's selection provides a narrative arc to a career that has been very self-consciously narrated. Much of Dreams of My Father, Mr Obama's autobiographical novel that was written before most people had heard of him, is set among the blighted communities in the dangerous neighbourhoods to the south of Hyde Park.

Its work will be cut out. Just last month, police shot and killed an 18-year-old black man in South Shore, which sits adjacent to where the Obama library is likely to be situated. Last weekend, there were 14 shootings in Chicago, several of which also occurred within 10 blocks of Hyde Park. Having paid little attention to the South Side since becoming president, Mr Obama is saying loudly that he has not forgotten his roots. "The people there, the lessons that I learnt, they're all based right in these few square miles," said Mr Obama in his announcement video yesterday. "I'll be able to give something back and bring the world back home after this incredible journey."

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Then there is the substance. Few presidents make a broader impact on the environs of their presidential libraries. One exception is Bill Clinton, whose library is hosted in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he was governor. Its presence has helped develop the north side of the city. The same applies to the Clinton Foundation, which has helped bring jobs to New York's Harlem. Yet Mr Obama is aiming much higher. Alone among America's three great metropolises, there is a question mark over the Windy City's future. Unlike New York, which has a financial centre, and Los Angeles, which has entertainment, Chicago lacks an anchor industry. It also lags behind the dramatic gains of the first two in reducing urban crime over the past 20 years. Never modest in his aims, Mr Obama clearly hopes to bend the arc on Chicago's future.

It is a gargantuan challenge. Rahm Emanuel, Mr Obama's former chief of staff, was re-elected last month as mayor of Chicago after a tough battle to win over African-American voters. He had alienated many by closing 50 state schools, most of which were on the south side. More than 300,000 African-Americans have left Chicago since 2000 in an exodus that began when United Steel closed its vast south side steel mill. This was where Mr Obama's political career was born. His library will be located just a couple of miles from the still empty 600-acre site. Not much has changed in that neighbourhood since it served as the launch pad for Mr Obama's exhilarating journey. Now he is coming back. This time he will be bringing a world-class facility that might just have an impact on people's lives.

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