Bill Maher yells at audience about Barack Obama’s ‘unknown’ presidential library
Bill Maher called his audience “king liars” for caring about former President Barack Obama’s nearly $1 billion foundation.
Maher criticized the design and intent of the near-windowless, 225-foot-tall museum in the center of the building that opened in Chicago on Friday during an interview with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif) and reporter Jonathan Martin.
“Do we have a picture of the Obama library? Because it looks like something was built in Dubai,” Maher said on “Real Time.” “It cost 850 million dollars. I don’t understand why there is a development like this.
“Who’s going to go to this? Why does anyone need a presidential library? These memorials to some of these pictures, outside of the office,” he began to say.
The 70-year-old comedian then asked his audience if any of the members planned to visit the facility located in Jackson Park on the South Side of Chicago.
The question received a standing ovation, but Maher wasn’t buying the answer.
“Really? You are all liars,” said Maher. “You don’t go to the Obama library.”
Khanna, who was a presenter on Friday’s show, questioned Maher’s problem with the building honoring the first black president of the United States as he compared Elon Musk’s billion dollar spending to Mars.
“First of all, we don’t need that building to do that,” said Maher. “That is in our hearts and minds.
Khana, a fifth-term congressman representing the South and East Bay districts in the San Francisco Bay Area, announced that Michelle Obama gave “one of the greatest speeches” at the dedication of the Obama Center.
The 49-year-old politician said the ex-wife spoke about how her husband fought racism and insults while showing “hope and patience and ambition can overcome.”
“What does that have to do with a building?” Maher replied. “We didn’t know that story outside the building? Like unless you go to the building you’re like ‘Obama, who was he again?’
The “Death Star”-shaped center will house a museum, a community hub, a new branch of the Chicago Public Library, and an athletic and recreation center and other outdoor spaces.
Khanna said that this building not only represents the eight years of Obama’s presidency and has impacted millions of people’s lives in the country.
“I think Obama’s story is unique, I’m biased, I worked for him but it’s a unique story to tell what might happen in this country,” said Khanna. “When I was in law school, as an intern, they said to me ‘Ro, you are Indian-American, you are of the Hindu faith, go to the Capitol because you will never be elected to anything.’
“That’s what I heard, then Barack Obama changed the course of this nation for millions of people,” he said.
“And it has nothing to do with the building,” said Maher.
