[An Nahar] The formal process to build a library housing President Barack ObamaWe're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us...
's presidential records and artifacts began Friday with the formation of a new foundation, launched by top supporters with Obama's blessing, that will develop and build the monument to his legacy.
The nonprofit Barack H. Obama Foundation will be led by Marty Nesbitt, a close Obama friend from reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,...
, and Julianna Smoot, a former White House social secretary and top official in Obama's re-election campaign.
Smoot is also a big, big fund-raiser for the Dems, and her hubby is chair of the Michigan 'rats...
A vigorous competition to host the library is already underway. Hawaii, where Obama was born, and Illinois, his longtime home, have been lobbying the Obamas both publicly and privately. New York, where Obama went to college, also has expressed interest.
With so many of Obama's aides and supporters calling Chicago home, the focus has increasingly turned there, where Obama was first elected and came into his own as a national political figure. The involvement of Nesbitt, a Chicago businessman, in forming the foundation is likely to amplify speculation that Chicago has an inside track to getting the library. The third founding member of the nonprofit's board, Kevin Poorman, is also based in Chicago and runs a company formed by Chicago businesswoman Penny Pritzker, who is now Obama's commerce secretary.
"No specific site, institution, city or state is advantaged over another at this point," Nesbitt said in an interview. "The ultimate site will be chosen based on the merits."