Mediaboss Marketing

Dear editor,

As we all know from numerous Chicago City Council debates, protests, and letters to the Hyde Park Herald, many South Side Chicagoans have been outraged that the Obama Presidential Center has been locatedor not locatedin their neighborhood. Clearly, no location will satisfy all constituencies, so heres a modest proposal: Why dont we build hundreds of Obama Centers in neighborhoods all over the South Side?

Talented and charismatic politicians such as Barack Obama appeal to individuals in a variety of ways. For instance, Obama has always been a Rorschach test for left-of-center voters who have endlessly debated whether he is a pragmatic centrist or closet radical. But what if everyone on the South Side could create their own Obama Center and reimagine for themselves and others which Obama is important to them? In Obamas adopted hometown, centers would no doubt celebrate his history-making status as the first black president, his policy victories, his soaring rhetoric, and his community work here in Chicago. By contrast, local conservativesand college students who think they are funny might feel compelled to design ironic Obama Centers. And, of course, postmodern Obama Centers (perhaps actual houses of cards?) might serve as commentaries on the very notion of an Obama Center or whether Americans should practice politics as a form of hero-worship.

More practically, each South Side resident with an available room would have space for an Obama Center. The layout and memorabilia would vary depending on room size and building access. (Renters could negotiate with landlords about center aesthetics and permanency.) Those with two extra rooms could have two Obama Centers, each with a separate interpretation of Obamas significance, or maybe just one for Barack and one for Michelle. Side hustles for empty nesters might include remaking recently vacated rooms as Obama Centers, Airbnbs, or gift shops. Businesses could also get into the act: staff at Valois Restaurant could do a podcast from Baracks Tableplaced right across from Slims Table. And perhaps an Obamacare Center at the University of Chicago Medical Center? Repurposing existing real estate as Obama Centers could bring needed investments to many (not just one) South Side neighborhoods without costly, large-scale construction compromising existing neighborhood cultures, spaces, or parks. This solution would thus honor not only Obama but also Jane Jacobss New Urbanism.

The possibilities are endless. Many Obama Centers would be solely online, but some people could also reinvent themselves as Obama Centers and I dont just mean tattoos or plastic surgery. Could a new performance art form, the Obama Center, come into existence on historically significant street corners, like where the Obamas first kissed on 53rd and Dorchester? Of course, academics at Chicago universities would also study the economic and cultural impacts of various Obama Centers. And Obama Center tourism would become the fashion for political wannabes thumbing Obama-centered travel books at the Seminary Coop Bookstore (e.g., Lonely Planet: Obama Center).

Our belated solution would also stimulate surprisingly useful political debates, even if the official Obama Presidential Center has already been built in Jackson Park. For although the official center might be a resonant physical analogue for Obamas now monumental career, having hundreds more Obama Centers would also encourage people to visit neighborhoods new to them, to discuss politics with people there, and to put new political coalitions together. The resulting community organizing might productively highlight the now downplayed Chicago-based activist work of the younger Obama, thus reshaping ongoing discussions about his political legacy and the official center designed to promote that legacy. And isnt that, seriously, what presidential centers are supposed to do?

In jest,

William Weaver

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A belated solution to the Obama Presidential Center location debate - Hyde Park Herald