NBC’s Today debased itself on Wednesday by sending former First Daughter and fourth-hour co-host Jenna Bush Hager to interview former President Barack Obama for a syrupy sit-down about the opening of his Obama Presidential Center next month. The whole segment was as wishy-washy as Obama’s biography and omitted the pesky facts about the hefty admission costs, budget overruns, laying waste to the community’s landscape, a lack of compliance with the norm of past presidential record-keeping, and years of delays. Unsurprisingly, there were a whopping four teases for this interview, starting off the top with co-host Savannah Guthrie stating they’d reveal “what he hopes it will inspire for generations to come” and adding in the second that Obama would tell Bush Hager “why the project is so personal to him.” When it finally came time to air it, Bush Hager explained she talked to Obama about the upcoming opening a few weeks ago when she “recently interview[ed] all the former president ahead of our country’s 250th anniversary” in Philadelphia. “A presidential library is meant to serve as a window to the past, but for former President Barack Obama, that was never the whole plan,” she gushed, then remarking to Obama that “I know that it’s, of course, a place for history, but more than that, I’ve read that you want it to be a place for community.” NBC’s ‘Today’ interviewed former President Obama ahead of the opening for his “Presidential Center.” Here’s the first two minutes. Of course, Jenn Bush Hager offered syrupy praise and nothing about the hefty admission costs, budget overruns, laying waste to the community’s… pic.twitter.com/b4OcIxR1Zz — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 6, 2026 Obama deflected any sort of concerns about the site: “Well, that’s how we’ve conceived it. This campus is going to be 19 acres and there will be a museum there that records the presidency and has some of Michelle’s dresses, which will be no doubt the most popular exhibit there. But that’s really just one part of it.” Sounding like an Obama press secretary, Bush Hager said that “[r]ather than simply paying tribute to his historic two terms, President Obama envisions the center will also shape our collective future.” The two sounded like a team of woke college administrators talking about a campus with Bush Hager even swooning their “greatest hope was to create a place to educate the next generation and inspire a sense of belonging” (click “expand”): NBC’s Jenna Bush Hager on the Obama Presidential Center: “President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama chose to build the center on Chicago’s South Side, where they both began their lives in public service. That dedication to giving back as strong as ever on the brand new… pic.twitter.com/gbaqzvj27A — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 6, 2026 OBAMA: The goal for me has been to create something that’s a living monument not to me, but to this idea of American citizenship. And if we can encourage that, then I’ll feel pretty good. And I think people will really enjoy being there. [CUT] We’ve got a campus that’s designed to model the space where communities come together to meet, to learn, to work with each other around projects that they care about. BUSH HAGER: President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama chose to build the center on Chicago’s South Side, where they both began their lives in public service. That dedication to giving back as strong as ever on the brand new campus. OBAMA: We’ve got a Chicago Public Library on site that’s an actual library, not just some academic library. We’ve got community spaces for people to meet, recording studios for young people to come and talk about their lives and create art and music that can be inspiring. BUSH HAGER: The Obamas greatest hope was to create a place to educate the next generation and inspire a sense of belonging. OBAMA: We’ve got that playground for kids to play in — [RIDING DOWN A SLIDE] — that was fantastic — a community garden following up on what Michelle did and a basketball court and a gym, because I think sports are central to who we are, and an auditorium where public speakers will come to it, and young people who are bringing about change in their communities can come together and convene and learn and practice civic leadership. Despite the main building being a hideous, gray, handle-less jug, Bush Hager boasted that “Obama was deeply involved in the design process” as “a lover of architecture,” yet “the most personal feature is what’s tucked away for children: A water terrace, named and his mother’s honor.” Bush Hager camped out on this fawning tribute amid soundbites of Obama discussing her: “Ann Dunham was a scholar with big dreams...Her determination and heart not lost on the little boy she helped raise...A legacy of steadfast hope and humanity...carried on through her son.” Back live in New York, the co-hosts were in awe and made sure to mention Bush Hager’s presidential father’s bond with Michelle Obama (click “expand”): BUSH HAGER: It’s pretty cool —  CARSON DALY: Wow. BUSH HAGER: — how, you know, so much is personal. MELVIN: Yeah. BUSH HAGER: I know Mrs. Obama wanted to put in a sledding hill because they grew up in Chicago —  MELVIN: Yeah. GUTHRIE: Yeah. BUSH HAGER: — and always wished there was a sledding hill —  GUTHRIE: Yeah. BUSH HAGER: — nearby and now there will be. They want it to be, you know, a place where kids come or families come and on June 18th when it opens — MELVIN: Yeah. BUSH HAGER: — it’ll be a rare moment where all the presidents come back together, the former presidents come back together. DALY: And you’ll be there. MELVIN: That’s pretty cool. BUSH HAGER: I won’t be there. MELVIN: It’s going to be cool. BUSH HAGER: No, I won’t be there. DALY: No more? No follow-up chats? GUTHRIE: Is that the one where your dad’s bringing a case of Altoids? BUSH HAGER: I did — yeah. He’s ordered a case of Altoid, and he will be bringing that —  GUTHRIE: Yes. BUSH HAGER: — to Mrs. Obama. MELVIN: I love the moment. GUTHRIE: After their famous moment, not because she needs a case of Altoid —  MELVIN: Oh, no. GUTHRIE: — so they have that cue. DALY: No, good. Good. BUSH HAGER: He loves — he sits next to her at all at the event funerals —  MELVIN: Yeah. BUSH HAGER: — and this will be a happier occasion. MELVIN: America has come to really enjoy that dynamic between the two of them. BUSH HAGER: Yeah, so he said he’s purchased a Altoid. After co-host Craig Melvin praised the Obama’s for taking up 19 and a half acres “to revitalize a part of Chicago that desperately needs revitalization,” Carson Daly inadvertently stepped on a thorny subject by wondering if it’s all free: “How does it work once it’s open? I mean, it’s just free and people go in there and use the gym and play hoops and kids with a playground?” Bush Hager demurred: Well, I’m sure they’re going to have partnerships with some, you know, with nonprofits and things like that because every single one operates differently, you know, their museums are testaments to history, but I think they really wanted this to be a community center as well. Left out was the fact that starting admission for the historical portion will be $30 for everyone 12 and over, $23 for children three to 11, and free for kids two and under. Also omitted was how it consumed Jackson Park. National Review wrote this in October 2021: “It’s trashing historic and lovely Jackson Park, too. Its famous Women’s Garden and May McAdams Garden, dating to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, were both destroyed, and hundreds of mature trees got the chain-saw treatment to make way for the Obama complex.” Our friends at The Federalist went and spoke to Southside Chicagoans in April 2023 about the mess it created and how it will certainly drive up the cost of living (i.e. gentrification):     And that doesn’t even touch the widespread ridicule when construction really took shape this past October. Like most things with Obama, the liberal media are too busy amid their Obamagasms to care. To see the relevant NBC transcript from May 6, click here.