CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A day after President Trump’s contentious visit to Chicago, the Obamas returned for the Obama Foundation Summit on the campus of IIT and defended the location of the Obama Presidential Center.
The Former President and First Lady discussed locating the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, and in particular in Jackson Park.
"Barack and I don't do things incidentally. I mean there is a strategy, you know. Barack's Presidential Library could have been anywhere in the world," Michelle Obama said, "because it is also an economic engine, right? Because it will be a visited presidential library, because it is going to be alive."
The former president said they want it to be a university for activism and social change.
"We joke a little bit, like this is the mothership, but we want this to be a university for activism and social change," Mr. Barack Obama said. "The great thing about Chicago, and the South Side of Chicago in particular is the same hunger for change and hope and progress that exists in communities and neighborhoods all over the world, that same hunger exists here.
The former president said it would be a catalyst to stitch together the economies of downtown Chicago and the North Side and South Side and eventually the West Side.
He said the most important thing they can do is pass the baton to as many people as possible and cultivate as much talent as possible.
Some in the neighborhood, of course, are leery and are concerned about being pushed out.