Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett Talks Obama Presidential Center Opening

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
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**Romaine Bostick** (0:07)
The former President Barack Obama is opening his Presidential Center, the official opening coming tomorrow, excuse me, on the 18th, with the public allowed to start accessing it on June 19th. We had a chance to catch up with Valerie Jarrett, the longtime advisor to the President, who is now the CEO of the Obama Foundation. We asked her about the legacy of the 44th President of the United States and what this means for the city of Chicago.

**Valerie Jarrett** (0:35)
We are very excited to open the Obama Presidential Center this week.
I think that it is very timely on the 250th anniversary of the birth of our country. And in fact, our museum begins on the ground floor, not with the election of President Obama, but rather with the Declaration of Independence. And it tells the story of all the zigzags of our country, from the suffrage movement to civil rights, going back to slavery, then reconstruction, the immigration rights movement, the LGBTQ rights movement, all of the different movements in our country, and zigs and zags and progress that we took that led to the president's election. And then the story of his presidency. And so the timing is just right.

**Romaine Bostick** (1:19)
The timing is right. It's also somewhat auspicious. Talk about that arc of our country from the signing of the Declaration of Independence 250 years ago, of course to that night back in 2008 with Obama just a few miles away in Grant Park giving that victory speech. There are some will say that that arc of history in 8 and the eight years that came after it might have been our peak. How do you answer that?

**Valerie Jarrett** (1:44)
Oh, quite the contrary. We are always a work in progress. And in fact, the outside of the business of the building says that we are all responsible for that glorious task of continuing to improve our nation. In the middle of our plaza, we have an arc designed by Martin Purier, the arc of the moral universe that does bend towards justice, but it's a long arc of the universe. And it bends over time as we each push incrementally. And it sometimes zigs and zags, but it does bend. And so no, we haven't peaked. We're just beginning. Compared to most democracies, we're still a baby.

**Katie Greifeld** (2:20)
Well, I absolutely hear what you're saying, of course, that you think about the arc of time and progress. It certainly isn't linear here. But I do want to talk a little bit more about this moment that Romaine brought up, because you think about how it's been 13 years since we saw the last presidential library dedication. What a 13 years that has been. And now, of course, this opening is happening at a time when you think about some of the policies that President Obama really made his landmark and are really known for, have been sort of dismantled over the past several years. And I wonder, you know, what this moment feels like right now.

**Valerie Jarrett** (2:56)
Well, I'm very excited, because our opportunity now is to instill in people a sense of hope that ordinary people can still do extraordinary things. And so the status quo is not going to be permanent. It never has been in our nation's history. And so the question is, are people ready to take up the baton and run the next mile? And that's how our country has always made progress. And I talk about the zigs and zags because that's been the history of this country. And so in this moment, we want people to still feel hopeful. We want them to feel that they have the capacity to make the world a better place. That we have more in common than we have differences. That we welcome people to the campus who have different ideas than we do. And let's have a debate without being disagreeable. Let's all work to actually strengthen our democracy. That's our message. And that's what we think people will feel is sense of hopefulness when they leave the campus. And come back time and time again.

**Katie Greifeld** (3:51)
Well, Valerie, you mentioned different ideas. I do want to bring up President Donald Trump directly here because my understanding is that this opening, it will be the first time that a sitting president won't be at the center stage in a modern presidential library and museum opening. And you have said publicly that President Trump has not been invited to the opening ceremony that is this week, but that you would welcome him for a tour. So I am curious, is that an invitation that you have extended at this point, and have you gotten a response?