Barack Obama returned to the center of U.S. political debate this week as his presidential library opened in Chicago and the Biden administration’s Iran deal revived discussion of the 2015 nuclear agreement he negotiated. In interviews promoting the opening, Obama defended the accord, saying it was built through “almost unprecedented” international cooperation, ran 150 pages, and was carefully detailed. He said all Western intelligence agencies, including Israel’s Mossad and the CIA, agreed it worked, that 97% of Iran’s uranium was removed, and that there was “no valid reason” for Trump to abandon it.
The event in South Chicago was staged like a star-studded celebration, with performances and appearances by Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend and others. Former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Joe Biden attended, while Donald Trump was not invited. The gathering lasted three hours and drew guests including Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and Stephen Colbert. Fox News carried only part of Obama’s speech.
Obama’s renewed prominence also highlighted his long-running feud with Trump, who has repeatedly invoked Obama’s name, including by using his full name, “Barack Hussein Obama,” and posting a racist image of the Obamas as apes. Obama’s former aides used the occasion to attack Trump sharply. John Kerry said the world was “scratching its head” over the negotiations, while Ben Rhodes called Trump’s conduct “a shameful chapter in American history,” accusing him of dragging the U.S. into a needless war and then signing a deal that merely restored previously open waterways while giving Iran sanctions relief and compensation.
A new SSRS poll showed Obama remains the most popular politician in America, with 57% support, compared with 34% for Trump and 30% for Biden. Former nuclear negotiator Ernest Moniz warned that since Trump tore up the original pact, Iran has accumulated far more technical knowledge and its nuclear position is now much more dangerous and complicated. The Obama Presidential Center is a major $750 million project that includes a museum, open park space, children’s slides, a basketball court, a recording studio and a large auditorium named for Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.
