The search for a home for President Obama’s presidential library is officially under way — and New York is on the short list.
With Obama’s blessing, top supporters are launching a foundation that will develop and build the library, which will house his presidential records and serve as a monument to his legacy.
The nonprofit Barack H. Obama Foundation will be led by Marty 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.
A vigorous competition to host the library has already ramped up. Hawaii, where Obama was born, and Chicago, where he began his political career, have been lobbying the Obamas both publicly and privately.
New York, where Obama graduated from Columbia University, also has expressed interest.
With so many of Obama’s aides and supporters calling Chicago home, the focus has increasingly turned to the Windy City, where Obama was first elected and came into his own as a national political figure.
The involvement of Nesbitt, a Chicago businessman, in forming the foundation is likely to amplify speculation that Chicago has an inside track to getting the library.
The third founding member of the nonprofit’s board, Kevin Poorman, is also based in Chicago and runs a company formed by Chicago businesswoman Penny Pritzker, who is now Obama’s commerce secretary.
“No specific site, institution, city or state is advantaged over another at this point,” Nesbitt said in an interview. “The ultimate site will be chosen based on the merits.”
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s former chief-of-staff, said Chicago is “undeniably a natural fit” to host an Obama library and museum.