Anthony Clark (yes, you’ve heard of him), in Politico:
Last week, Barack Obama unveiled the plans for his presidential center, to be built in the historic Jackson Park on the South Side of Chicago. Architects, city planners, educators, community organizers, activists, pundits, boosters and critics all have weighed in on the look and on the plans. But if you blinked, you might have missed something important: Obama will not follow the example of his 13 immediate predecessors. He will forgo the creation of a traditional presidential library and museum.
The National Archives and Records Administration—which operates presidential library-museums for every president from Herbert Hoover through George W. Bush—won’t be operating either for Obama. His private Obama Foundation, not the government, will own and operate the museum. And there really won’t be a presidential library. The Obama Foundation will pay for NARA to digitize unclassified records and release them to the public as they become available, but the center’s “Library,” which may or may not house a local branch of the Chicago Public Library, will not contain or control presidential papers and artifacts, digital or otherwise. Instead, according to a NARA press release that called the museum “a new model for the preservation and accessibility of presidential records,” those records will be stored in “existing NARA facilities”—meaning one or more of the agency’s research or records centers across the country.
The notion that a federal presidential library would contain no papers, and not actually be federally operated, is astonishing. But to those like myself who have advocated for years—without much success—that it’s time to reform the broken presidential library system, it’s also an important positive development, and one that could be revolutionary.
Presidential libraries are perfect examples of just how far presidents will go to control their own legacies. Since the first one was created in 1941, what were intended to be serious research centers have grown into flashy, partisan temples touting huckster history. Built with undisclosed, unlimited donations, often to sitting presidents, libraries have traditionally been donated to the government after their construction. But even though they are taxpayer-funded and controlled by a federal agency, the private foundations established by former presidents to build the libraries retain outsize influence. The libraries’ whitewashed exhibits are created by presidential boosters; they host political events; their boards are stacked with loyalists; and many of their important historical records may never see the light of day…
The Obama Presidential Center could break this pattern, and solve at least some of the major flaws of the system, by creating a new model for a privately run presidential museum that can be laudatory in its exhibits and partisan in its programming, but not while under the troubling imprimatur of the federal government—and without the taxpayers footing the bill. At the same time, the new arrangement will leave presidential records and the terms of their release to the public in the hands of the government, where they belong. Freeing NARA to process and produce those records without the interference of the Obama Foundation will be our best hope for learning what really happened during the Obama presidency—and, if others follow his example, future presidencies as well…
***
Presidential records matter because they inform us about what presidents do and how they do it. American citizens give our chief executives a great deal of power to keep much of this information secret, at least temporarily. In exchange, at some reasonable time after they leave office, we get to pierce that secrecy and find out what really happened. Except, the development of the powerful presidential library altered that deal, allowing “history” to be written (rewritten, actually) by presidents themselves. Critics have long charged presidential libraries with politicization, from questionable decisions to withhold certain papers (or sometimes, temporarily “lose” them, as happened with Chief Justice John Roberts’ files at the Reagan Library during his confirmation process) to highly skewed “history” exhibits (such as the Nixon Library’s Watergate display; when the government took control of the facility in 2006, the first thing it did was to dismantle the “fundamentally inaccurate” mess) to years-long Freedom of Information Act request backlogs…
Baud
The Baud! presidential library will be housed right here on Balloon Juice.
Anthony Clark
Thanks, Anne. If you’re still interested, I’d love to do that Book Chat you mentioned back in 2013.
SiubhanDuinne
Hey, I just went back to that September 2013 thread, which I don’t remember, and saw a commenter name that I haven’t seen in these parts for ages — Chuck Butcher.
Anyone know what’s happened with him?
Chuck Butcher, if you’re around, please stop by and say hi!
efgoldman
@Baud:
No hands-on exhibits of presidential drool on presidential napkins?
Major Major Major Major
Aw, it’s cute that he’s aware of the things every library science grad student studies extensively in the first semester.
efgoldman
@Major Major Major Major:
You don’t mean history and archive studies are unfunded or underfunded. Oh nooos
[Ignorance is bliss for huge swaths of the country]
Major Major Major Major
@efgoldman: And very perversely prioritized, and to a large degree stuck in an outdated view of society.
ThresherK
Eh, I could barely care less for anyone’s take on how Barack Obama has to be That Guy who breaks precedent and fixes something after all the white guys (especially R’s) did it wrong.
I’d be interested if one of our Media Centrist Fetishists insisted that a fcking Republican be the bigger man and do this first.
(ETA: I didn’t read the article, just skimmed the excerpt.)
Kansi
Once again Obama displays a deep appreciation for the role and responsibilities of public service, even that of the presidency itself. And I hear the soft strains of community organizing in the background. He continues to lead and inspire.
?BillinGlendaleCA
I’ve been to 2 Presidential Libraries in the last month or so, and much of what he says is true; however, I think it’s more the case when the ex-President or the ex-FLOTUS is still alive and the decade or so afterwards. There was a vast disparity between the Nixon Library(Dick and Pat died over 20 years ago) and the Reagan Library(Nancy died last year) in their treatment of the history of their presidencies. The Reagan Library was much more of a political statement(there was a small alcove with Iran-Contra), than the Nixon Library. I have no problem with the Presidential Library concept or using private donations to build it, but they should be run by the Government once they’re built.
Thoughtful David
The thing that bothers me about this is that once again, we have a Democrat who will Do The Right Thing. He’ll set an example for the future.
But does anyone believe for one fucking moment that any Trump will follow a good example? Does anyone believe for one fucking moment that any future Republican will follow the good example? They only exist to break norms in the most destructive way, in a way that favors them.
Major Major Major Major
@Thoughtful David: Trump’s library is going to be a perverse masterpiece. Assuming we don’t do like Germany did after their little brush with ethno-nationalism and outlaw the propaganda.
realbtl
@SiubhanDuinne: Last I heard 6-7 years ago he had some life changes and had moved back to his home Michigan. He at that time had a blog under his name.
Mnemosyne
For a few more hours, you can download the bestselling book I’m Judging You by blog favorite Luvvie Ajayi from Amazon for a mere $2.99.
I’ve read about five pages and already laughed out loud twice. And I even remembered to link using Cole’s Amazon link so he’ll get 2 or 3 pennies from it.
NotMax
One of Obama’s very first acts (Jan. 21, 2009) was to sign an Executive Order revoking the one Dubya had crafted which severely limited when and how presidential (and vice-presidential) records could and would be released.
FlipYrWhig
On the other hand, he did get paid for a speech by financial something something, which disqualifies him from being considered good about, well, most anything, really, because that’s the most important issue in American politics, the influence of financial something something.
eclare
@Major Major Major Major: Like Colbert said, it will consist of a kids’ menu and a couple of Juggs magazines.
?BillinGlendaleCA
The Reagan Library had one exhibit that’s worth the price of admission($16), SAM27000. I just looked this up, this is the plane that had to change it’s call sign mid-way over Missouri from Air Force One to SAM27000 since the passenger on-board ceased to be President when President Ford was sworn in. The Nixon Library had the chopper(Army One or Marine One, depending on the pilot) that Tricky Dick gave his famous double victory sign upon leaving the White House.
Roger Moore
@ThresherK:
I think you skimmed it too carelessly. They aren’t suggesting that he ought to be the guy who breaks with precedent in some way; they’re praising him for being the guy who is breaking with precedent in a positive way.
Mnemosyne
Okay, one minor nitpick:
People who’ve never worked at an archive have no idea how common it is to lose things inside the building. Just one misfiling or incorrect database record means that it could be months, if not years, before you find the missing materials even if you know they never left the building. About a year ago, we found artwork from a long-discarded short film inside a box for a completely different film from a different era.
So, yes, it’s possible that the Reagan Library folks deliberately withheld the papers pertaining to Roberts, but it’s also entirely plausible that they didn’t know the papers were “missing” until they had the request, went to look for them, and discovered they weren’t where they were supposed to be.
SiubhanDuinne
@realbtl:
Thanks. Hope he’s doing well.
There was one time I remember (maybe more than once) when he, General Stuck, and Just Some Fuckhead were all mixing it up about something or other. Chuck, Stuck, and Fuck. Good times.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: Sandy Burger probably stuffed them in his pants.
hovercraft
@Baud:
How will BillinGlendale visit it?
jl
@Baud:
” The Baud! presidential library will be housed right here on Balloon Juice. ”
The historical lotto tickets and beer bottle caps will bring history to a whole new audience.
OT, but how did Golden State win that one?
jl
OnT (‘On Topic’): I don’t know much about presidential libraries, and am not familiar with whatever shenanigans have gone on for previous presidents. But what Obama is doing sounds like a good idea.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: And where is Just Some Fuckhead? Haven’t seen that ‘nym for a long time?
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Baud: As it should be.
Anthony Clark
@Mnemosyne: The Roberts papers in question “disappeared” after Bush White House officials reviewed them while vetting Roberts. And, as NARA says in the article, it’s rare.
This was during the time when the federal director of the library – in charge of all archival process – was concurrently serving as executive director of the private/political Reagan Library Foundation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/16/AR2005081601457.html
?BillinGlendaleCA
@hovercraft: Unless it’s in the LA area, I won’t visit it. Now Baud’s library will be virtual(has to be, because Baud in his natural state would scare the children), so I’ll have no problem visiting that library.
PsiFighter37
@Major Major Major Major: I highly doubt there will be a Trump library. Unless there is something to be gained by currying his favor once he is out, nobody in their right mind would give him money.
I will be entertained to see him try to fill his coffers selling his stupid red hats, though.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
I hear they’re pretty good; or maybe like Baud and myself, they have special powers.
jl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: In the spirit of virtual space hobos, the Baud Presidential Library should be a holographic derelict box car that travels the lonesome rails from coast to coast. I’ll take the trouble to visit the damn thing if it rumbles through the Central Valley. People will have to take it in quick before the switch yard railroad cop chases them off.
Miss Kitka's Comrade Wayne
The Trump presidential library will be housed in a slow-rolling book trolley.
efgoldman
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
More hagiographic (real word?), no?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: That was pretty much my impression.
I think it’s a real word, so it was more hagiographic that historical.
jl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Lenard injured his ankle again and left the game. But GS had stunk up the place so bad, I didn’t think they could hold the lead after their run, even with Leonard out. I thought the Spurs were getting ready to make a run again. But GS figured out how to get a rebound here and there, for example.
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
I feel as though I’ve seen him recently enough that I’m not yet worrying. Couldn’t say exactly when, though.
But it’s funny, as concerned as we get when a regular commenter disappears for a while (or is going through a crisis) — and these are people we mostly know only virtually — I can only think it must be totally exhausting to be a parent. Rewarding, I have no doubt, but again I’m not sorry I made the decisions I did.
Thinking, as so often these days, of gnG and her family, of Immanentize and Mrs. Imm, of ArchTeryx, and of course of Yarrow. And everybody else who is sad or scared or in pain or worried, you are all teaching me all kinds of new lessons about love, and all of you are in my heart.
D58826
OT, so we are going to name an adulteress to be the ambassador to the Vatican -Calistta Gingrich. Real life is giving the Onion a real run for it’s money
efgoldman
@PsiFighter37:
There will be a big, tasteless building with his name on it in gold plastic, which will weather and peel off the letters pretty quickly.
Inside will be a gigundo museum store, full of his branded products and nothing else.
Pay toilets (at 25 cents each) down the other end of the corridor.
That’s it. No books, no papers, no history.
MomSense
Leave the Obamas alone. My dog they worked tirelessly and conducted themselves flawlessly while facing incomprehensible amounts of bullshit.
Whatever they may do at this point for us we don’t fucking deserve.
Ruviana
@efgoldman: What, no remaindered copies of The Art of the Deal?
efgoldman
@D58826:
In an alternate universe, Cantaloupe Caligula is a satirist who owns The Onion and is trolling us all.
efgoldman
@Ruviana:
Sounds like a branded product to me.
rikyrah
Trump Is Trying to Control the FBI. It’s Time to Freak Out.
By Jonathan Chait
It seemed for a while that, while Donald Trump’s presidency has proven less competent and more right-wing than expected, it has also defied the fears of authoritarianism that circulated after the election. But the importance of the two newest revelations from the Comey episode change that fundamentally.
First, Trump boasts to NBC’s Lester Holt not only that he decided to fire Comey himself, regardless of the advice from the Department of Justice, but that he did it specifically to strike back at the FBI’s Russia investigation. (“When I decided to [fire Comey], I said to myself, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story,” Trump said.) Reports from numerous media organizations have confirmed the centrality of the Russia investigation in Comey’s firing. Now Trump is admitting it in public.
Second, the New York Times reports that Trump, in January, asked Comey to promise his loyalty. (Comey said he could only offer “honesty.”) Two Comey friends heard this account at the time, and have felt free to share it since. This is not only wildly improper, it is a window into Trump’s disregard for basic democratic norms surrounding law enforcement. If the FBI is operating out of loyalty to the president, then one of the most important barriers between a democratic government and an authoritarian one has fallen.
Donald Trump’s most consistent belief — even more consistent than his skepticism of international trade, which has waned on occasion — is his worship of power. He is not merely willing to do business with despots, as most presidents have been. He admires them because of, not despite, their despotism. His repeated refusal during the campaign to accept the legitimacy of the election (“rigged”), his promises to jail his opponent, and his intermingling of state power and personal profit all suggested a threat to the health of the republic. Now that threat has arrived. And if Republicans in Congress continue to cover for his actions, the damage to the health of American government may be longstanding.
jl
@efgoldman: Surely there will be an arcade where visitors can write their own Trump Tweets. Ten bucks a pop might be a reasonable price..
Spanky
@D58826: I don’t think the Vatican has to accept her “credentials “. Am I right?
Spanky
@rikyrah: Chait is shocked, SHOCKED that Trump is who he said he is.
Our villagers is learning?
Mnemosyne
@Spanky:
They probably will. It would cause a pretty big diplomatic problem if they didn’t. But it would be pretty awesome if the Pope decided to lecture her about the sanctity of marriage during their meetings.
Johannes
Tony Clark’s an old friend, and in fact his book is pretty funny about both the Reagan and Bush II libraries. He also broke real news on the Nixon attempted land grab for his library. Obama has been a pleasant surprise to him, following Tony’s suggested path to a more honest, sustainable presidential library system. #ThanksObama
mali muso
@Mnemosyne: thanks for the heads up! I love Luvvie’s blog, so I bought it using the link. Hope that tosses a few pennies into our host’s cap. Can’t wait to read it!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Thoughtful David:
It’s almost like they know they will end up in the future history books with the likes of George McClellan, don’t you think?
Wapiti
If there is a Trump library, I may consider finishing and donating a piece of artwork I’ve been thinking of making. Working title is “Piss Trump”.
Mike G
@Thoughtful David:
I predict Trump’s library is going to make Kim il Sung’s mausoleum in Pyongyang look understated and even-handed.
jl
@Spanky:
” Our villagers is learning? ”
No. On FacePlant Nation, John Dickerson had a condescending interview with Adam Schiff, and was quick to remind him that Trump can fire anybody anyhow and it was OK. Schiff didn’t respond to that, but should have told Dickerson that it was not always ‘OK’. I endured through Sasse, since Bob Gates was promised, but he never appeared. Instead, the show went to a hacktacular GOP/reactionary panel typified by Peggy Noonan.
I turned it off then. Not a big fan of Gates, but he might say something interesting or informative.
Instead we got Noonan imploring The Donald to have more manners, so he could truly be The Donald and put his great plans into motion without self-interference. Then I turned it off.
rikyrah
Ala. 5th Grader Attacked and Harassed for Being Black: ‘Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue, I’m White, Why Aren’t You?’
Angela Helm
Today 11:59am
A 10-year-old boy is being racially terrorized by little inbred elementary schoolers in Jeff Sessions’ great state of Alabama. This be the year 2017.
Taylor Armbrester, 10, says he has been called “black boy” and “retarded,” by other fifth graders since he transferred to the mostly white Chelsea Park Elementary School in Chelsea, Ala., this fall.
Taylor also says he has been punched, kicked, had his finger broken and had sick little poems recited to him by his peers.
“Roses are red, violets are blue, I am white, you should be too. Roses are red, violets are blue, I am white, why aren’t you? Roses are red, violets are blue, God made me pretty, what happened to you?”
Another boy accused him of stealing a fidget spinner, and punched him in the face. “He lost it out of his book bag,” Taylor said.
Most recently, a little girl broke his finger. Alabama.com reports that on Tuesday, Taylor was shooting baskets when a girl he considers his friend asked if she could shoot, but instead she threw the ball at him. His mother, Shaneka Phillips, took him to the emergency room.
“He seems to be an easy target,” said Phillips.
After being taken in front of school authorities, the boy who recited the poems reportedly said ‘Don’t take it offensively,’” Taylor said. “I know he was just playing a joke. I said, ‘I hope you know God doesn’t like that.’”
Ruckus
@efgoldman:
The man doesn’t appear to be able to read or write and has created no positive history in his lifetime, other than total suckage.
So it will be accurate?
efgoldman
@rikyrah:
Chait imputes an actual strategy, which doesn’t exist, to Peach Pustule (strategy and outlook are not the same thing). He is not an evil genius; he is not Mr Burns wringing his hands. Evil? Yes. Genius? No, not even close.
He talks to hear himself talk; if he gets positive feedback from his words, he repeats them. It doesn’t matter what they are; if he gets negative feedback or pushback, he stops using those words, and may take action exactly the opposite of what he did/said previously.
However, having fired one FBI director, and one acting AG (Yates) doesn’t leave many options for him to do so next time.
His incompetence is exceeded only by his ignorance and stupidity, except when it’s the other way ’round.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
I am generally opposed to corporal punishment, but all those little snots need to be spanked. Immediately.
Chet Murthy
@Mnemosyne: I’m completely onboard with running N. Leroy Gingrich outta town on a rail. The man’s a wart on the ass of democracy. A malignant wart. But …. I’m sure the Vatican’s accepted the credentials of far worse people, and probably even recently. Can’t imagine they’d buck for this. It’s a nice dream tho.
MomSense
@Chet Murthy:
I hope he says just the right things to make her feel like the horror she is. I’m imagining Tammy Faye Baker level mascara running down her face as she flees an audience with the Pope in shame.
ThresherK
@Roger Moore: Okay, fair enough.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
THANK YOU EVER SO MUCH!!!
Ruviana
@efgoldman: But a book-like product keeping up the library facade.
Chet Murthy
@MomSense: I know others here differ, but …. until/unless a spouse actually enters the political sphere for real (and merely “helping” their politician spouse doesn’t really count to me) and in their own right, I just can’t get all bothered about it. Sure, she’s an “adulteress” (or whatever — lotta people do that these days, so I read). But the real crime here is that it’s N. Leroy Gingrich, “leader of the civilizing forces” that’s going to the Vatican. -That- is what exercises and enrages me. Callista? Whatever — I’m sure she’s figured out what she bought with the transaction she made 24yr ago. And whatever it is, I’m sure she’s made her peace with it.
I feel like, we transfer our wrath at the political spouse, onto the non-political spouse.
[And honestly, this applies to Michelle (PBUH) too. Sure, she’s had a role to play as FLOTUS. But that’s just part of the job. And we elected Barack (PBUH). She should have been off-limits — and yes, I know that the Rs don’t play that way, but there oughta be lines we don’t cross, even if they do. And yes, I think this applies to Melania too. Sure, she’s said some things. Do you really think she could have avoided doing it, with a husband like that? C’mon. The simple fact that she lives in NYC even now, should tell us something about the transaction she entered into, those many years ago. I’m not a Christian, but it sure seems an un-Christian thing, to be throwing stones at these spouses.]
Emma
@MomSense: Agreed completely.
Citizen_X
@rikyrah:
Son, a) learn to punch, and b) punch that kid.
amk
so, yet another new standard only for the black guy has to meet? fuck that noise.
amk
@MomSense: Exactly.
lollipopguild
@efgoldman: Trump is going to keep the White House when he finally gets tired of playing our GodEmperor and his Presidential Library will be a bookshelf in a restroom with a copy of Captain Billy’s Whizz-Bang.
Uncle Ebeneezer
@rikyrah:
Umm, when was that exactly???
jl
@amk: I think the article is saying that Obama is setting a new and higher standard that his successors should be expected to meet.
Trump is willfully and gleefully doing the reverse of the good idea of using Obama as a high standard to emulate, and I hope The Donald comes to bad end and is stripped of power, politically.
TS
@Chet Murthy:
Australia’s Cardinal Pell – who was conveniently called to Rome when the child abuse commission was examining the Catholic Church issues comes to mind.
jenn
Interesting, I had never really looked into presidential libraries. Learned something, thanks!
Bailey
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
The Nixon Library revision is fairly new. I went in the late 90s, after both Nixons had died, and it was still hagiography that didn’t mention Watergate. It’s only been brought into the real world in the last 5 years or so.
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne et al.:
Too tired/lazy to look it up now, but I believe Chuck Butcher self-deported (amiably) after a big lifestyle change, something like moving from Oregon to Detroit to take care of a parent or older relative (?). Said he couldn’t participate here anymore but didn’t go into detail, IIRC.
Just Some Fuckhead rarely comments anymore, but I did see his nym once within the last month or so.
I’d like to know what became of PurpleGirl, the woman who lived in an apartment tower in Brooklyn. Daily commenter for a long time, and then she abruptly disappeared.