Obama's new library is hiding a dark secret
It was a DEI disaster from the start and now contractors fear retribution for speaking out about allegedly not being paid...
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Barack Obama recently opened his 45,000 square foot community center more than a decade after leaving the White House. Initial estimates in 2016 believed the Obama library would cost around $300 million. By 2021, the estimated cost had soared to $830 million. The timeline for the project kept extending. When the Jackson Park location was first selected in 2015, an opening date of 2021 was set. Due to a series of legal battles, the construction process was delayed, finally opening this summer.
But extended timelines and costs are just the tip of the iceberg for why the project should raise serious concerns.
The Obama Foundation intentionally set Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion goals in the construction of the Presidential Center. They asked construction managers to hire minority groups including women and LGBT run businesses for at least 50% of its subcontractors. It set a strict requirement forcing 35% of all subcontractors to be minority owned. Further, they required subcontractors to prove that they had a “history of working with diverse suppliers”, prove that they had made charitable donations to “environmental and civil rights causes,” and were implementing DEI practices on their boards. Their stated goal was to engage “minority populations in the construction process,” but their DEI intentions ultimately backfired.
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In January 2025, one minority owned subcontractor filed a $40 million lawsuit against an engineering and design company that oversaw work on the Center. The subcontractor had provided concrete for the new build, but claimed they were unfairly subjected to excessive inspections and requirements which caused them to incur debt. Although the Obama Foundation tried to stay out of it, the lawsuit repeatedly linked the engineering company to the Foundation, stating that they couldn’t believe the “Obama Foundation’s structural engineer would single out a minority-owned subcontractor for unfair criticism… while, in the same letter, stating that the non-minority-owned contractors were sufficiently qualified.”
The foundation had a harder time distancing themselves from additional accusations that they haven’t reimbursed several of their subcontractors. Michael Owen, the president of Adamson Plumbing Contractors, claims that the Obama Foundation still owes him $4 million. Worse, that discrepancy may force his company into bankruptcy. He originally had a $6.9 million bid for the project but “disorganization”, “design changes”, and several subcontractors falling behind schedule led to additional work.
The Obama Foundation claimed it had “accelerated a number of payment timelines, and in some cases, advanced payment several months before the work was completed” and that they were “committed to a subcontracting process that exceeds industry standards for financial support.” This advanced payment structure may explain why some of the work was delayed by subcontractors, extending the construction process.
Owen’s company paid for much of the project out of their own pocket, so as not to undermine the foundation’s efforts to promote minority-owned businesses or sabotage a high-status project. Owen also feared that speaking out might prevent his company from being compensated and could turn potential clients in an overwhelmingly Democrat city away.
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Owen’s business wasn’t the only one affected by the disorganized construction process. Multiple other businesses have also claimed millions in losses, but refuse to speak openly about their financial concerns for fear of backlash. Other companies claim that they are inhibited by non-disclosure agreements, which have also prevented business owners from providing evidence corroborating claimed losses. Neither the Obama Foundation nor the Lakeside Alliance, a joint venture of five firms managing construction over the Center, have “directly disputed allegations from some subcontractors that they incurred losses while working on the project.”
The Presidential Center has faced allegations of robbing citizens since 2018, when a controversial 99 year agreement allowed for the Center to be built on the site of a former public works project. It now sits on public land that was handed over to the private Obama Foundation for just $10. As Illinois GOP Chairman Grogan said, “[The Foundation] had to go all the way through the court system, because they were violating the public trust doctrine.” This, too, led to delays in the Center’s opening. But Grogan has one other concern: “Some fear it’s going to be a Maoist indoctrination center over time because it’s NOT a Presidential center.”
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If your definition of a slave is a person who is forced or coerced into working without pay then isnt Obama building his library with slave labor?
Someone commented elsewhere that this thing looks similar to the WWII German anti-aircraft tower bunkers in Berlin and other major cities. Being a WWII history nut, I have to concur. Except the German flak towers had a better use.