Chicago, Honolulu Battle to Host Obama Library

White House hasn't given it 'a second' of thought
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 24, 2010 10:21 AM CST
Chicago, Honolulu Battle to Host Obama Library
President Barack Obama stands on the tarmac after deplaning from Force One as he arrives at Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010 to start his vacation.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Obama is far more concerned about a second term than his legacy—but two cities are duking it out to host his presidential library, Politico reports. Four groups at the University of Hawaii, in the state where Obama was born, are already hard at work on the matter, hoping to entice officials with a beautiful mountain or ocean setting (they'll pick the final location in the next few months), while the University of Chicago aims to capitalize on Obama’s ties to both the school and the city. "It’s like bidding for the Olympics," says the professor leading the University of Hawaii's effort, "except there are no rules and no formal criteria."

New York also has a claim on the president, who attended Columbia University. “Identifying his home state—the one that’s most his home—is a little bit more complicated than other presidents,” says an expert on presidential libraries. Over at the White House, however, “not one person in here has thought one second about this,” says press secretary Robert Gibbs.

(More President Obama stories.)

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