The formal process to build the presidential library began Friday, and even though the leadership of the Barack H. Obama Foundation is stacked with people with Chicago ties, those involved with Hawaii’s bid remain hopeful Honolulu is still a top contender.
"We feel very confident that we’re positioned for this about as well as we could be," said Robert Perkinson, the University of Hawaii professor who has led the charge for a Hawaii presidential library.
In a statement, Hawaii Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui said the state remains fully committed to developing a proposal for an Obama presidential center in Honolulu.
"With our multicultural population and traditions of compromise and dialogue, Hawaii has shaped the president’s inclusive values and collaborative style of governing, making this an ideal location for his future presidential center," Tsutsui said.
Hawaii, Obama’s birth state, and Illinois, his home for a couple of decades, have been lobbying for the library for several years. New York, where Obama went to college, also has expressed interest.
The nonprofit Barack H. Obama Foundation will be led by Martin Nesbitt, a close Obama friend from Chicago, and Julianna Smoot, a former White House social secretary and top official in Obama’s re-election campaign.
With Nesbitt leading the foundation and Kevin Poorman, another Chicago businessman, announced as the third founding member of the nonprofit’s board, speculation is fueled that the Windy City has an inside track to getting the library.
Maxine Burkett, a UH law professor also on the Obama library steering committee, said she is not discouraged by the fact the foundation is dominated by Chicago.
"It just reflects the current group of folks who he knows and works most closely with him," she said. "We still look forward to making a compelling case."
In February the foundation will ask parties seeking to host the library to make their interest known. Groups that make the initial cut will be invited in May to submit formal proposals. The president and first lady Michelle Obama will make the final decision, and the foundation will announce it in early 2015.
Hawaii officials said they had already been contacted by foundation leaders and told the process will be open and transparent and that no decisions have yet been made.
Perkinson said Friday that Hawaii will be a top contender because there is nearly universal support for the library here from leaders across the state. What’s more, he said, Honolulu, with its location between East and West, is an ideal platform from which the former president can further his agenda.
Obama also wants to spend more time in Hawaii after his presidency is over, he said, and a center here will give him plenty of opportunity.
Nesbitt, who vacationed with Obama here in December, said the president asked those leading the foundation to reflect the values and priorities he has held over the course of his career in public service. Those values, he said, include expanding economic opportunity, promoting peace and dignity abroad, and inspiring the ethic of American citizenship.
The Hawaii proposal, which identifies an 8-acre site near the ocean in Kakaako, offers a few suggestions to Obama, including the creation of a Convening Institute think tank, where the ex-president can bring together world leaders to discuss the great problems of our day and explore ways to solve them, and an Education Academy, where research would focus on leadership and issues involving learning from the preschool level to the 12th grade.
Perkinson said that while Hawaii will propose siting the entire presidential center in Hawaii, it’s possible that Obama will choose to split up the complex. He said the Hawaii team is ready to work with any other institution or city if it comes to that.
A.J. Halagao, co-founder and senior adviser to the Hawaii steering committee, said, "Hawaii has over 8 million visitors a year, from all over the world. And we hope they’ll be able to come to Honolulu to learn more about our nation’s first global president."
The foundation plans to hire full-time staff later this year. Although it will start fundraising right away to cover its own costs, most of the money to build the library won’t be raised until after Obama leaves the White House. While Obama is still in office, the foundation won’t take donations from foreign nationals, lobbyists or organizations that aren’t nonprofits. It also plans to disclose all donations over $200.
The president, Michelle Obama and White House staffers won’t raise money for the foundation until Obama leaves office, the group said. Obama will be kept up to date but won’t be closely involved in the screening of the site proposals.
Shortly after the foundation was announced, the University of Chicago issued a statement confirming its intention to bid for the library and build it at a location off campus.
"I strongly believe the Obama Presidential Library would be ideal for one of our neighboring communities on the South Side of Chicago," University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer said in a statement. "Such a location would reflect the personal and professional lives of the Obamas."
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s former chief of staff, also said the city would vigorously pursue the library.
The Associated Press and Chicago Tribune contributed to this report.
