Thursday was the inauguration of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. This is the Obama library, they’re just calling it the “presidential center,” which is fine with me. The whole Obama family came out for it, and Malia continues to steal her dad’s whole face. Genetics are wild! Sasha and Malia turned out so great, Barack and Michelle did an amazing job with them. The Obamas invited their friends to the opening – Bill and Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush and Laura Bush, Joe and Jill Biden, Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff. Nancy Pelosi and Angela Merkel were also invited (Merkel loves Obama). No Trumps allowed.
As I was looking through the photos, I made several weird political observances. While the Obama presidency looks more and more like the last truly great moment in American political history, Dubya’s presidency looks almost modest compared to what Donald Trump is doing. Like, pre-Trump, Bush was easily the worst president since Nixon. Nowadays, Bush has some kind of “at least he wasn’t Trump” glow-up. Bush always loves spending time with Michelle Obama too.
It was nice to have a reminder of the way things used to be.
Hillary Clinton really like the peace prize line pic.twitter.com/m8CZw0C5Ky
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 18, 2026
To George and Laura, Bill and Hillary — we’re grateful for your friendship, counsel, and devotion to this country. And to Joe and Jill, thank you for being on this journey with us.
— Barack Obama (@barackobama.bsky.social) June 18, 2026 at 3:57 PM
Photos courtesy of Getty Images.