Meanwhile, in Chicago, thousands of invited guests, led by former presidents. heads of state, converged on a lakefront park to dedicate the Obama Presidential Center, a sprawling campus of granite, nature and art designed as a hub of civic life and culture honoring the 44th president of the United States, Reuters reported.
Former president Barack Obama. former first lady Michelle Obama were joined at the event by the other three living former presidents — former presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Joe Biden — and their wives, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Jill Biden.
Obama’s two daughters, Malia and Sasha, sat with their parents on the main stage of the ceremony.
Reuters reports that the roster of VIPs in attendance also included former vice-president Kamala Harris. her spouse, Douglas Emhoff, former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi and such foreign dignitaries as former German chancellor Angela Merkel and former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
The occasion. under partly cloudy skies, marked the ceremonial opening of the Obama Center, an $850 million development that local historians say marks the greatest single investment in a century in Chicago’s long-neglected South Side.
Politico also quotes Senate majority leader John Thune as saying he anticipates an administration briefing on the US-Iran memorandum of understanding “early next week”.
Thune said he felt the deal is “good for Americans” because it opens up the strait of Hormuz,. warned on the $300bn fund:
double quotation mark I don’t think there ought to be any financial incentives or any financial relief given to Iran absent their commitment to end the nuclear program.
As they gear up to face tough midterm elections in November. some Republicans are relieved at the memorandum of understanding with Iran - though many are still privately questioning what the purpose of Trump ’s war actually was.
After the president said yesterday that if he had not struck a deal. “the alternative would be a worldwide depression”, one House Republican told Politico:
double quotation mark The president didn’t mean to, but he effectively acknowledged he lost the war. It’s no longer worth the economic price.
While JD Vance was briefing reporters earlier. Republican senator Roger Wicker, who is chair of the Senate armed services committee, said he was “ concerned that the memorandum of understanding negotiates away the victories of Operation Epic Fury in ways that are completely out of step with the president’s goals.”
The $300bn fund for the reconstruction. economic development of Iran included in the memorandum, “though not funded by US taxpayers, would make Iran’s payoff under President Obama’s 2015 deal look like a pittance by comparison,” Wicker added in his statement.
He also said it would be an “error” to “force” Israel to stand down against Hezbollah,. added: “I also oppose the US lifting of any sanctions on Iran, or unfreezing Iranian funds, in exchange for Iran’s mere agreement to negotiate for another 60 days.”
He joins a handful of other Republican senators speaking out against Trump’s deal (see my earlier post ). When asked about that criticism earlier. Vance said those Republicans should “have a little bit of faith in the president of the United States”.
“The idea that he is going to strike a deal that’s bad for the American people, it’s preposterous” he said.
Back to Donald Trump for a second (sorry). the president has reiterated that the United States expects “a complete ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel.”
“We encourage everyone in the Middle East Region to maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations to beautifully unfold,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The Associated Press reports that Michelle Obama spoke directly to her husband when she stepped up to the podium.
“Eight years in the crucible and not once did you melt in the heat. Not once did you let it harden you. Instead, you used it to reveal your truest essence,” she said. “Your stubborn optimism and unflinching courage. Your dazzling brilliance and unpretentious decency. Your ferocious work ethic and absolutely unshakable moral fiber. And to do it all as a first.”
She ticked off highlights from her husband’s eight years in office, including ordering the raid that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden, “standing up for marriage equality”. “listening to science.”
“And you did it all with such grace and class and cool,” she said. “You made the hardest job in the world look like a walk in this beautiful park.”
Obama appeared to wipe away a tear as she praised him, the AP reported.
Michelle Obama also referenced the current “anxious. divisive times” and warned against being cynical or complacent as “everything feels so upside down.” She pitched the center as “a respite from all that.”
It’s not every day that this many celebrities gather together (in a way that benefits this blog, at least). So here are even more photos of the scene in Chicago at the Obama Presidential Center:
It appears that president Donald Trump didn’t make it to the event at the Obama Presidential Center. It’s unclear whether he was invited.
Either way: Trump’s absence is not exactly surprising.
The latest conflict between them came when a UFC fighter said disparaging comments about the former first lady at the White House. Trump did nothing about it.
For the Obama Presidential Center on the South Side of Chicago, Barack. Michelle Obama commissioned original works by 30 artists from diverse backgrounds, a bold move never seen at such scale at a presidential library. It also forms a quiet rebuke of Obama’s successor, who has filled the Oval Office with stiff presidential portraits while plotting the demise of cultural stalwarts such as the Kennedy Center. Smithsonian Institution.
“They love art,” said Valerie Jarrett. chief executive of the Obama Foundation, reflecting on how the Obamas took a similarly inclusive approach to curating the White House. “We want people who come here to look at a piece of art, stand next to a stranger, have a conversation about that piece of art. how it touches them each in their own individual ways. ”
The privately funded $850m presidential centre, opening nearly a decade after Obama left office, sits on a 19-acre campus in Chicago’s Jackson Park, close to where he lived as a young man. entered politics. It includes a new branch of the Chicago Public Library, an NBA-regulation basketball court, a recording studio. a sledding hill built because a young Michelle Obama never had one growing up on the city’s famously flat South Side.
The new artworks are dotted throughout. Jarrett insisted: “None of the art makes political statements.” But that depends on the definition of “political”. It does engage with the roots of African American history, the struggle for civil rights. the specific cultural legacy of Chicago.
Here are some more photos from the dedication ceremony of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago:
Meanwhile, in Chicago, thousands of invited guests, led by former presidents. heads of state, converged on a lakefront park to dedicate the Obama Presidential Center, a sprawling campus of granite, nature and art designed as a hub of civic life and culture honoring the 44th president of the United States, Reuters reported.
Former president Barack Obama. former first lady Michelle Obama were joined at the event by the other three living former presidents — former presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Joe Biden — and their wives, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Jill Biden.
Obama’s two daughters, Malia and Sasha, sat with their parents on the main stage of the ceremony.
Reuters reports that the roster of VIPs in attendance also included former vice-president Kamala Harris. her spouse, Douglas Emhoff, former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi and such foreign dignitaries as former German chancellor Angela Merkel and former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
The occasion. under partly cloudy skies, marked the ceremonial opening of the Obama Center, an $850 million development that local historians say marks the greatest single investment in a century in Chicago’s long-neglected South Side.
And finally, asked about reports that Benjamin Netanyahu is fuming over the deal with Iran, Vance issues an extraordinary rebuke to Israeli critics, particularly members of Netanyahu’s cabinet who have lambasted the deal. Trump. He says:
double quotation mark Donald J Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time.
If I was in the Israeli cabinet. I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.
He adds that over the last three months of war. two-thirds of the weapons used to defend Israel were produced in the US.
double quotation mark The problem for Israel is not Donald J Trump. anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the President of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in.
Vance says he is planning to lead the US negotiating team as they try to reach the final agreement with Iran.
Asked if he’s still going to Switzerland tomorrow for the formal signing ceremony. Vance says: “I may, it just depends exactly on when the Iranians can get there.”
Vance says he plans to go to Switzerland for talks with Iran this weekend, but that the plan could change.
“We think these technical negotiations are going to start sometime this weekend. That’s still the plan, but that could change,” he says. “I suspect this weekend but I’m not sure.”
Vance also dodged a question about whether Cuba is “next”, telling reporters to “ask Marco [Rubio]”.
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