The Obama Presidential Center opens Thursday in Chicago. Political elites will gather to commemorate a building. They chose this timing deliberately. Crucial elections loom.
Democrats excel at one skill above all others: showing up to celebrate themselves while voters decide whether to fire them. The party's glitterati will converge on Chicago to applaud a construction project. White House alums will reminisce. Donors will network. Business leaders will shake hands with people who regulated them yesterday and might regulate them again tomorrow.
The optics defy parody. Weeks before crucial elections, the party's most recognizable figures will cluster in one city to dedicate a museum about one presidency. Voters in swing districts will watch this unfold on television. Campaign managers in tight races will receive exactly zero assistance from the people flying into Chicago for photo opportunities.
Presidential centers serve one purpose: converting a political career into real estate. They employ archivists and event coordinators. They host school groups and corporate retreats. They do not swing elections. The DNC knows this. They scheduled the event anyway.
Obama built his political brand on grassroots organizing and retail politics. His center opens with a gala for donors and business leaders. The symmetry would be poetic if anyone pretended to care about symmetry anymore.
Retail traders obsess over election prediction markets and polling averages. They convince themselves political outcomes move portfolios. They will watch this event and imagine it matters for their positions. It does not matter. Nothing matters. The S&P goes up regardless of which geriatric signs bills, and the only thing Democrats proved Thursday is they can coordinate travel schedules to the same zip code.
The center cost over half a billion dollars. That money could have funded field operations in every competitive House district twice over. Instead it bought a building where people can learn about hope and change from a climate-controlled exhibition space.
Photo by Jack Kolpitcke on Unsplash
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