Supporters hail Obama's Presidential Center speech, contrast it with Trump's rhetoric

The star-studded opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago on June 18 was marked by strong speeches by both the former president and his wife, continuing to draw praise from supporters. In his speech, Barack Obama talked about the "shared values that make democracy possible," and in some instances, seemingly took veiled swipes at the current administration and President Donald Trump without naming him. 

Scott Macfarlane, the Chief Washington Correspondent of Meidas Touch, praised the former president, taking a dig at President Trump for his posts insulting political opponents. "The words we didn't hear from these remarks today: sucker, loser, piggy, stupid fake news, idiot," he said. "It's a permission structure when a president uses those terms for our children to hear...it's modelling the worst of rhetoric and the worst of behavior. President Obama and First Lady Obama didn't invoke the name-calling that has gotten in a cancerous way into our political bloodstream and makes us not want to expose our children to the highest people in power."

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker echoed similar sentiments in an interview with MS Now. "I am reminded that there once was a time, during most of my life, when we had presidents who exhibited character and honesty and integrity and kindness and empathy. Those are all things that I am sure all of us long for once again, and we were reminded that we can have that. We don't have it now, but there is an awful lot of work for us ahead to do, and I think that is what we were being called to remember and also called to do," he said.

Rep. Ro Khanna took to X to praise the Obamas, stating that they inspired him to keep fighting for justice without losing faith. "We still have much work to do to bend the moral arc of the universe towards justice," he wrote. 

However, not all were happy about the opening event. President Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, claimed the Obama Presidential Center was partially funded by taxpayer dollars. "The whole thing, from start to finish, has been a disaster," she said on Fox News. "It's ugly to look at, it's over budget, the taxpayers are footing the bill, apparently, for parts of this. And then, they had to open this performative morality virtue signal. When I think about what I would want a legacy of a president to look like, I think about the Trump presidential library," she added.