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I recognize and respect your deliberate approach to navigating these fraught times, but this relentless subtlety has become wearisome. Mr. Obama, now is not the time to follow the keep-quiet rules while the new administration plays moral equivocator to a much aghast nation.

Its time for you to come back.

I love that, after you posted on Twitter about the violence in Charlottesville, Va., you set a record for the most-liked tweet. But my joy at the news of your weighing in was complicated by your using a quotation, even one from Nelson Mandela. I looked to you for your good words. Ill keep waiting because I know they will be worth it. But where are they?

In April, you spoke to students at the University of Chicago and identified your post-presidential calling to help prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton as the single most important thing I can do. I entirely agree. But your distance remains a weight on my mind.

At first, and despite the seismic tonal shifts of early 2017, it was a joy to watch you on a deserved, extended holiday. Gelato. Kitesurfing. Taking pictures of natural-haired Michelle on a yacht. You were being carefree, and it was wonderful. Then came a deeper quiet. You came back, wore your collar open, signed a book deal. I was still happy for you, but there was an ache to it.

Dont get me wrong Ive enjoyed your few public engagements so far this year. You spoke meaningfully on climate change in Milan. You eloquently repudiated the continuing attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. It was heartening to see the people of Berlin receive you so warmly, and to watch you speak with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Mr. Obama, you were, as ever, subtle, insightful and measured. But I know that you know that we cant be hiding behind walls.

As a rule, I do not speak back to the television when I am alone. Or I didnt used to. And then, around the time of James Comeys firing, I listened to Alan Dershowitz basically announce that the apocalypse weve been dreading is upon us. I started to feel actual panic. I found myself yelling at the screen, and into the universe: Barack! Where are you?

By early August, this same phrase had turned into a bewildered mutter, as I listened to Representative Maxine Waters tell Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski that she thinks were nearing a constitutional crisis. The fallout from Charlottesville has rendered my call to you a tired and heartbroken whisper.

As a black Southern woman, I have grown accustomed to navigating a many-voiced universe. In the past months, however, I have felt keenly the absence of two voices: the collective sound of my sane Republican friends calling for inquiry and, more important, the voice of my president. Lately, the former crowd has begun to stir. Somehow, this has made the hope for your voice more urgent.

Are Mr. Dershowitz and Ms. Waters right about the jeopardy of our Constitution? Will hate groups continue to claim more space on the national stage? Regarding the former, I refuse to believe that television testimony to Robert Muellers integrity is my only respite in all of this. And regarding the latter, it beggars belief that we must address this at all, but here we are. Some of us never trusted politics until you found your way to the top job. Coming to grips with any new administration would have been hard, let alone this Kremlin-addled, Klan-endorsed turmoil we are being forced to watch.

Weeks ago, I was moved to tears (of relief) watching Senator John McCain give a thumbs-down on the Republicans health care bill. In no world could I have imagined this. But then, I could not have imagined this world.

I made phone calls for you in 2008. I worked in Nashvilles Democratic headquarters for much of the summer. I registered people to vote. I felt heard. In the intervening years, your voice has been one of gravity, good sense and honesty. By 2009, my president was black, and the House majority was blue.

My generation graduated from college, got our first jobs and became adults all under the auspices of that truth. We learned to experience politics through the lens of your eloquent presence in the White House. In this respect, you raised us. So we are unaccustomed to all of this wildness. Just because were grown doesnt mean we dont need to hear from the man who brought us up.

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President Obama, Where Are You? - New York Times

A White House official said on Thursday that Mr. Trump was specifically referring to a bill to extend emergency funding to the multibillion-dollar Veterans Choice program, which pays for veterans to receive care from private doctors if they face long wait times or travel distances.

Congressional aides said on Thursday that there had indeed been a short-lived effort late last month to tie the debt ceiling language to the Choice bill. But with the veterans program set to run out of money by mid-August, apparent opposition from conservative budget hard-liners and a congressional recesses looming, the idea was never given serious consideration.

The Choice legislation ultimately passed both the House and the Senate unanimously, shortly before each chamber began its summer recess. Mr. Trump signed it into law on August 12.

Mr. McConnell said on Monday that there was no chance Congress would fail to raise the debt ceiling by the end of September. The relationship between Mr. Trump and Mr. McConnell has been disintegrating over the summer and could jeopardize urgent legislation when Congress returns from its August recess. Mr. Trump has been publicly critical of Mr. McConnell for not being able to repeal and replace President Barack Obamas signature health care legislation. He repeated his criticism in another tweet on Thursday: The only problem I have with Mitch McConnell is that, after hearing Repeal & Replace for 7 years, he failed! That should NEVER have happened!

Mr. Trump shifted his focus on Twitter briefly to the Obama administration on Thursday. The president shared a post from one of his supporters that was critical of Mr. Obama.

And Mr. Trump called out Mr. Obamas director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., who has publicly questioned whether Mr. Trump is fit to be president.

I really question his ability to his fitness to be in this office, Mr. Clapper said on CNN this week.

Mr. Trump also lashed out at Fake News on Thursday for reports on the different styles of his recent public speeches.

Several news outlets, including The New York Times, wrote articles comparing his speaking style at recent appearances, including in Arizona at a campaign-style rally on Tuesday and at an American Legion convention on Wednesday night.

Kitty Bennett contributed research.

A version of this article appears in print on August 25, 2017, on Page A13 of the New York edition with the headline: Taking Aim At Obama, Republicans And Others.

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Trump's Morning Targets: McConnell, Ryan, Obama and the Media - New York Times

Top officials at the Department of Homeland Security met this week to review the status of a deferred-action program for illegal immigrants that could face a legal challenge from Texas next month, raising fears among advocates that President Trump could choose to eliminate it.

Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke and Thomas Homan, the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, were among those who gathered Monday to deliberate over the future of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), according to an agency official with knowledge of the meeting.

During his campaign, Trump vowed to end DACA, which began in 2012 under the Obama administration, on his first day in office, calling it an unconstitutional abuse of executive authority.But Trump has not followed through on his threats. The program has provided renewable, two-year work permits to nearly 800,000 immigrants who came to the country illegally as children.

Chad Wolf, DHS's acting chief of staff; deputy general counsel Dimple Shah; and James D. Nealon, a former U.S. ambassador to Honduras working on policy at the agency, also attended the meeting this week, according to the official familiar with the meeting.

It is not clear what conclusions the group reached. But rumors swept through the immigrant rights community Thursday that a decision from Trump is imminent.

Any decision would provoke strong reaction from both sides of the debate.

DACAis immensely popular among Latino and Asian American communities. Thepresident has wavered on his threats, and in April suggested that the DACA recipients, known as "dreamers," could rest easy.

Immigration hard-liners, including some Republicans in Congress, have pressed Trump to act. The threat of a lawsuit from the states has led to speculation that the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who opposed DACA as a Republican senator from Alabama, would not defend the program. Texas set a deadline of Sept. 5 for the administration to end the program.

Last year, a federal appeals court upheld an injunction issued by U.S. District Court Judge Andrew S. Hanen of Brownsville, Tex., who halted an Obama-era program that offered three-year work permits to the illegal immigrant parents of U.S. citizens a day before it was scheduled to begin enrolling applicants.

Last week, Hanen agreed to halt further proceedings on the deferred-action programs in his courtroom until after the Sept. 5 deadline on DACA.

In the wake of the legal activity, the DHS officials gathered to review the status of DACA and [determine] next steps for the program, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

If Trump decides to end the successful DACA program, it would signal that he has decided to appeal to the white supremacists in his base rather than to courageously lead in this moment, Marilena Hincapi, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, said Thursday. He would be betraying the young immigrants he reassured did not have anything to worry about and claimed to have a 'heart' for.

On the other side, some immigration hard-liners have suggested that Trump could try to push through a package of legislation that would offer the dreamers more permanent legal status, along with new border security measures, including a reduction in the level of legal migration. Republican Sens. Tom Cotton (Ark.) and David Perdue (Ga.) have introduced a bill, with Trump's backing, to slash legal immigration levels in half over a decade.

Trump said this week that he would be willing to shut down the government over a spending bill in September if Congress does not allocate money for the border wall he has promised to build along the U.S.-Mexico border.

If the supporters of the [dreamers] are scared enough, they might be willing to deal, Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for lower immigration levels, wrote this month in the National Review.

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DHS reviewing status of Obama's deferred-action program for illegal immigrants - Washington Post

The potentially high costs of reconfiguring streets around the Barack Obama Presidential Center are a small price for the city to pay given the opportunity the project represents for the South Side and Chicago as a whole, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday.

The Chicago Department of Transportation on Wednesday unveiled plans to possibly add a lane to Lake Shore Drive near the Jackson Park site of the library and two extra lanes to part of Stony Island Avenue in a bid to offset traffic problems from the proposed closure of Cornell Drive nearby.

Emanuel declined to say what the tab might be for that work, but he called on Chicagoans to concentrate on the big picture.

"Remember the tremendous economic, educational and cultural investment and opportunities this will mean, not just for the entire city, but also for the South Side of the city of Chicago in specific," he said. "And so while we're going to talk about, correctly, this roadway versus expansion of that roadway, this park plan versus that park plan, to everybody, as the mayor, keep your eye on the prize."

"Because, as I always like to say, or quote somebody famous, 'Yes we can,'" the mayor said, referring to an Obama campaign slogan.

And Emanuel defended the Obama Foundation's proposal to pay for construction of a two-level parking garage on part of the Midway Plaisance across from the site where the presidential center will be built. Some critics have complained the above-ground garage with a green roof shouldn't count as parkland.

"Don't just dismiss the contribution of the parking garage to the community as a whole, and don't dismiss the fact they're willing to pay for it. That goes a long way," he said after an event at Prosser Career Academy to announce free mobile devices and wireless packages for public high school students. "And by doing a green roof I think it also goes a long way toward meeting other needs."

Lolly Bowean and Blair Kamin

jebyrne@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @_johnbyrne

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Emanuel: Obama center infrastructure costs small price for cultural, economic benefits - Chicago Tribune

Hoping to ease concerns about plans to close Cornell Drive at the site of the proposed Obama Presidential Library, the Chicago Department of Transportation wants to add a lane to Lake Shore Drive near the site and two extra lanes to a portion of Stony Island Avenue, officials said on Wednesday.

Expanding the two roads would ease traffic that would spill over once a portion of Cornell Drive is closed, said Rebekah Scheinfeld, a Commissioner with CDOT.

CDOT's proposal was presented Wednesday night just hours after the Obama Foundation announced it is planning to pay for the construction of a covered parking facility, as well as a new park, on a section of the Midway Plaisance across from the site where the Obama Presidential Center will be built.

On Wednesday, CDOT presented their plans to the public and solicited written feedback, alongside officials from the Obama Foundation and the Chicago Park District.

Obama Foundation

Two cutaway drawings show a parking facility planned across Stony Island Avenue from the Obama Presidential Center campus in Chicagos Jackson Park.

Two cutaway drawings show a parking facility planned across Stony Island Avenue from the Obama Presidential Center campus in Chicagos Jackson Park. (Obama Foundation)

Currently, commuters rely on Cornell as a quick alternative to South Lake Shore Drive and Stony Island. According to the new proposed plan, a southbound lane would be added to Lake Shore Drive from 57th Street to Hayes Drive. Two lanes would be added to Stony Island Avenue from 59th to 63rd Streets.

Scheinfeld said expanding those streets would mean that commuters would see little change to their travel times, which has been a concern of the community.

CDOT's proposal would also eliminate street parking along East Hayes Drive, so that more cars could travel there. The overall loss of parking as a part of the project is a concern that is still being evaluated, Scheinfeld said.

Plans for the center also still include the closing of Marquette Drive between Stony Island Avenue and Richards Drive to accommodate the expanded South Shore/Jackson Park golf course.

In addition, if adopted, the plan would add three to five new acres of parkland.

Parking garage

The Obama Foundation's parking facility had been included in the original plan for the center presented earlier this year, but just how it was going to paid for was previously unclear. The city of Chicago, the Park District and the University of Chicago were thought to be candidates to pay for it, but officials were mum when pressed recently as to who would be responsible.

The property where the garage and new park are proposed is owned by the city. In its announcement Wednesday, the Obama Foundation said the city would "convey" the rights for parking to the non-profit organization, pending input from the community and approval by the City Council.

The addition of the garage and the land immediately around it, an estimated 4 to 5 acres total, would bring the total amount of public land area devoted to the Obama center to 23 or 24 acres. Twenty-one acres of Jackson Park were handed over to the Obama Foundation for the center; that area has shrunk to a little more than 19 acres because the center now occupies less land on its southern boundary, according to the foundation.

In its statement released Wednesday, the foundation said the proposed parking facility and park would provide views of lagoons and have a picnic area and children's play area. Foundation officials said it would increase pedestrian traffic to areas around the presidential center.

Renderings show that the garage would not be buried below ground level like the one at the nearby Museum of Science and Industry. It would be a two-level, above-ground facility, largely concealed from view by grass, trees, shrubs and other landscaping on its flanks and roof. The parking facility would hold 400 to 450 vehicles, and a bus parking area would be located to the exposed west side of the garage. The bus parking area would be wedged between the garage and nearby Metra tracks.

"This plan creates the opportunity to get people outside. The parking is across the street from the Centerpeople will get out, get into the neighborhood, get into the park," said Michael Strautmanis, the Vice President for Civic Engagement for the Obama Foundation. "It takes a really underutilized piece of land and activates it and creates a new park, public amenity."

Building the garage above ground would save on costs, eliminating the need to construct a concrete "bathtub" around the perimeter of the garage to prevent groundwater from infiltrating it. The Obama Foundation did not provide a cost estimate for the garage, just as it has not yet provided an estimate for the overall cost of the center.

The Obama center garage would have only a third of the capacity of the one at the Museum of Science and Industry. Completed in 1998 at a cost of $57.6 million, the science museum garage has three levels and 1,500 spaces.

Questions remain

The announcement of the garage raised other questions that the foundation did not address in its news release or at the open house: How, for example, will visitors get from the garage, which is on the west side of busy Stony Island Avenue, to the east side, where the center will be located?

When conceptual plans for the center were released last spring, they showed a curving pedestrian bridge that would have risen over Stony Island Avenue and linked the garage with the center. But the new renderings released Wednesday do not show the bridge. It's unclear whether the foundation has eliminated the span or has yet to reach a decision on whether to build it.

Also not appearing in the plan was a short bend in Stony Island Avenue that was proposed last spring. The road was instead shown as straight. It was not clear why that change was made.

Other elements have been added for example, a new landscaped median in a portion of Stony Island. The plan also indicated a spot for the Cheney-Goode Memorial, which includes a stone bench and sundial built in the 1930s in honor of two female political figures. The memorial is on the north side of the Obama center site, across Stony Island from the garage site. Neighborhood activists had expressed concern that the foundation's plan for a basin in that area of Jackson Park would eliminate or disrupt the memorial.

Michael Van Valkenburgh, the Brooklyn-based landscape architect who is handling the landscape design for the Obama center, will design the landscaped portion of the garage, foundation officials said. His Chicago credits include Maggie Daley Park and The 606 pedestrian and bike trail.

Planning process continues

The foundation previously has said it will seek approval for the center from the Chicago Plan Commission in November. That timetable still holds, a foundation official said Wednesday.

The Plan Commission's hearings on the Obama center will belong to a separate approval process from those of the Chicago Park District. The district is conducting public hearings for a new Jackson Park framework plan, which would encompass both the center, a proposed Tiger Wood-designed golf course and the roadway changes.

At CDOT's open house, officials showed a 20-minute video of their latest proposed changes, and allowed time for questions and suggestions. As she wandered the South Shore Cultural Center examining the proposed road changes, Shirley Newsome, 72, of nearby Oakwood, said that it would take time to adjust to the new routes.

"Once people get accustomed to being divertedat first they will moan and groan and complainbut then they get used to it," she said.

Although officials said both adding the parking garage and changing the roadways would mean more park space, not all residents agree.

"They're claiming that's park land? That a landscaped garage is parkland? I think that's a new definition and I'm not sure a lot of people are going to buy that," said Margaret Schmid, with Jackson Park Watch, an activist group.

lbowean@chicagotribune.com

bkamin@chicagotribune.com

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New lane on Lake Shore Drive and parking garage proposed for Obama center - Chicago Tribune