Michelle Obama takes SWIPE at Trump

[0:00] Yeah, I think you're right to point out the legacy of what he was saying today. [0:06] Let's talk a little bit more about Chicago. [0:08] By the way, I'm going to get to the other presidents that were there and the reaction they had to at least one specific moment in just a moment from now. [0:16] But, Lynn, I want to talk to you about Chicago. [0:18] The actual building, the presidential center, Barack Obama said today, is built on the site where he—it's the first step he took into the city of Chicago. [0:30] Talk to me about the site itself, the meaning of why it is right there on the south side. [0:35] Well, it was always going to be on the south side and probably also in Jackson Park. [0:41] There was a competition back in the day, but it was really just to make sure that Chicago upped the ante to make the best deal it could. [0:48] This campus that were on, 19.3 acres, had been historic parkland designed by the famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. [0:58] There was a big fight and a big controversy about locating this center here, but I guess that train has left the station. [1:06] A lot of litigation back in the day. [1:08] And you could see that the new iconic signature of the south side is the tower that everyone looks at. [1:15] Now, people are going to give it a nickname. [1:18] I call it Obama Hedge. [1:21] And it is eight floors, which has a museum in it. [1:24] It has private offices for Barack and Michelle Obama. [1:28] And here's the thing. [1:29] Everybody, everything in this campus, by the way, is rentable. [1:33] You want to rent the presidential suite, the gym down the block, you could do it. [1:36] So there's also a kind of revenue streams there that they've built into it. [1:40] But the importance of putting this here is economic for the Obamas, as well as part of their personal history. [1:47] From where we are, I could walk over to their house in Kenwood. [1:50] I could walk over to where our first condo was. [1:53] I could take a little longer and get to the house on South Euclid that Michelle Obama grew up in. [1:59] So, and even a few blocks away, I could go where they went on their first date. [2:03] So, this place fits into their history. [2:06] In my analysis, there is never any other place they would put it but here. [2:12] And there is excitement about this being here in terms of what it will do for just the people that live here. [2:18] Now, there's open questions about whether this will drive up rents, have gentrification that drives people away. [2:24] But those are very worthy questions. [2:27] But in the meantime, this is a place that, starting tomorrow, people can come and just hang out. [2:32] There is a beautiful branch of a Chicago public library. [2:36] We're on the roof of it right now. [2:38] This is not an official presidential library. [2:42] The design of this would have looked a lot different if it had to be done according to NARA standards, National Archives and Record Administration standards. [2:50] But what this is, is in addition to the fabric of Chicago and a very important one. [2:57] Lynn, with all of that context, Lynn, thank you so much. [3:02] Let me play the moment I teased a moment ago, not to overuse the word moment here. [3:06] But this was Michelle Obama making a not so subtle distinction between her husband and the man that currently, it appears, currently holds the Oval Office, holds the White House. [3:20] Let's listen. [3:20] The lies about your birthright, your faith, your patriotism, the outrage when you stated the biological fact that if you'd had a son, that he too would be black. [3:34] You were doing the people's work, rescuing our economy, expanding health care, ending a war, ordering the bin Laden raid, saving an auto industry, winning a peace prize from Ebola, regulating the banks, standing up for marriage equality, listening to science, and comforting an entire nation in the face of unspeakable tragedies. [4:17] Michael, winning a peace prize, keeping us safe from Ebola, regulating the banks, standing up for marriage equality, listening to science. [4:27] You could see Hillary Clinton react pretty strongly with a big smile and a laugh to the peace prize line. [4:35] Tell me about that moment. [4:37] Yeah, Katie, that, so, the beginning of the speech, Michelle made it very clear. [4:43] She's like, okay, I got this. [4:45] You're just going to have to sit and listen, because I'm going to tell, I'm going to tell your record. [4:49] I'm going to say the things I know you're not going to say. [4:53] And so, just sit there. [4:54] And I need you to look at me. [4:55] I need you to look at me. [4:56] So, there was that special moment. [4:58] But then she went on to recount the things that this president did and was largely, you know, I hate to say, particularly with respect to the ugly side of birtherism, played out by, you know, those who had very, let's say, un-American responses to his run for the presidency and for what he was trying to do. [5:21] Look, the American people have always engaged in that, you know, every four-year battle for the office of the presidency. [5:31] And we pick sides. [5:32] And we get banners and colors. [5:34] And we fly the flag. [5:35] And we sing the songs. [5:37] And we convention. [5:38] The two, you know, titans go into the arena. [5:42] And they battle it out with their supporters. [5:44] And when the victor rises, we all come together. [5:49] And that was not something that, you know, Barack Obama really got to enjoy completely because of the ugliness that still existed. [5:58] So, she wanted to put that on the table and said, yeah, that was part of this legacy, too. [6:04] But we rose above it. [6:05] And you did not fall into the responses, the tripwires of chasing the ugly side of America, but trying to elevate the side that Ronald Reagan, quite honestly, she didn't say that. [6:20] But I thought about this, the shining city on the hill. [6:22] This monument, this image behind us here of this, you know, I guess moment for Barack Obama is a piece of light of America. [6:34] And so, it was very fascinating for me the way she wove that into the narrative of this day. [6:40] If I may jump in, Katie. [6:43] Go ahead. [6:43] I think that, I think the Obama speech, if I'm doing an old-fashioned print lead or not old-fashioned, if I had to pound one out right now, it would be that President Barack Obama ripped President Trump, not by name, but by damning comparison. [6:59] When he went through the list, what we should be, a nation of laws, a nation of respect, a nation of, you know, the whole list of things he talked about. [7:09] That was the biggest attack on Trump in the most pithy way that I've seen in a while. [7:15] I call this place, especially all this campus, in the sense of the House of Hope, because this is dark times for a lot of the Obama people who are here, a lot of the people who believed in the movement and the things, probably a lot of your listeners. [7:29] And that is, I think, one of the main points of the artfulness of the Obama speech is how he can attack using what I guess you would call the velvet shiv. [7:40] By the way, the words that are on the outside of the building, they're from a 2015 speech given by President Barack Obama. [7:48] And you can see it if we take a picture of the building right now, those words right there up on the left-hand side. [7:53] The quote reads in part, [7:54] You are America, unconstrained by habit and convention, unencumbered by what it is, ready to seize what it ought to be. [8:03] For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken. [8:06] There is new ground to cover. [8:07] There are more bridges to be crossed. [8:09] America is not the project of any one person. [8:12] The single most powerful word in our democracy is the word we. [8:17] We, the people. [8:18] We shall overcome. [8:20] Yes, we can. [8:21] That word is owned by no one. [8:23] It belongs to everyone. [8:25] Oh, what a glorious task we are given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours. [8:31] I actually ended up reading it in full.