Obama Presidential Center opens on the banks of Lake Michigan

Former US President Barack Obama, celebrating a new museum and civic center dedicated to his eight years in the White House, called on Americans to resist the forces of political cynicism ​and division and instead embrace “our shared responsibilities as citizens,” Reuters writes.

The 44th US president, who left office nearly a decade ago, led a crowd of thousands on Thursday attending a music-filled grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center, ‌a lakefront Chicago campus of granite, nature and art honoring and archiving his administration.

He was joined by his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, and a list of dignitaries that included three other former US presidents, several foreign heads of state and a cluster of A-list recording artists, among them Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen.

The $850 million landmark development, which opens to the public on Friday, ranks as the greatest single investment in a century for Chicago’s long-neglected South Side, where the Obamas were married and made their family’s home.

The sprawling museum complex, encompassing a performing arts hall, library and athletic center, ​was designed to cement the legacy of Obama’s two terms in the White House and to serve as a hub of civic life and culture on the banks of Lake Michigan.