With the Obama Presidential Library opening on Thursday, the cast of characters that make up MS NOW has been provided an excuse to return to fangirling over their favorite president. On Wednesday’s On the Line, it was host Alicia Menendez’s turn as she claimed the library would not just be a tribute to Obama, but to the whole country. Menendez’s gushing review also fit in nicely with how the media historically reports on Democratic presidential libraries. Menendez began the segment by claiming, “Tomorrow is the grand opening of the Obama presidential center here in Chicago, not just a tribute to the nation's first black president, but the country he represented and the city that first gave him a shot as a young political upstart.”   MS NOW's Alicia Menendez says the new Obama library isn't just a tribute to Obama, but to the country, "Tomorrow is the grand opening of the Obama presidential center here in Chicago, not just a tribute to the nation's first black president, but the country he represented and the… pic.twitter.com/QG1NepHjlV — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) June 17, 2026   As it hard as it may be for media people to understand, the Obamas are not as universally beloved among Americans as they are among journalists. Nevertheless, Menendez then hyped the facility itself, “And this is no typical presidential library. The sprawling campus is meant to function as a community hub. There is a basketball court, a recording studio, a teaching kitchen, and fruit and vegetable garden, a beehive that functions as part of a sustainable ecosystem, a children's playground, and, of course, the presidential reading room, part of a new Chicago Public Library branch with roughly 3,500 book titles handpicked by the Obamas.” Menendez then transitioned into a preview of Michele Norris’s Friday special with the not-at-all subtle title of Hope Comes Home: Inside the Obama Presidential Center. The last time a Democratic presidential library opened was November 2004, and it was hard to differentiate Menendez’s Obama fandom with former ABC anchor Peter Jennings’s Bill Clinton fandom. Jennings described Clinton’s library as “appropriately dramatic for a man whose presidency was dramatic and divisive and full of accomplishment” who is “hugely popular in other parts of the world.” CNN’s Judy Woodruff claimed Clinton is "the quintessential American, super-sized” and summed up his career as “Dreaming big, flying sometimes too close to the sun, falling hard and coming back strong… Brilliant and captivating. Sometimes foolish and weak. Forever a promise not quite fulfilled. A legacy still to be determined.” Looking ahead to the 2008 presidential race, NBC’s Katie Couric worried to Sen. Hillary Clinton, “Is it disappointing for both you and your husband that his detractors and critics continue to pursue him?” By contrast, when the George W. Bush Library opened in 2013, Jonathan Karl quipped, “The Bush legacy – history is, at least the early indication, not gonna be too kind to President Bush.” NBC Meet the Press anchor David Gregory claimed Bush had a “reputation for incompetence” that “stained the administration and the GOP brand.”  ABC’s Dianne Sawyer used the occasion to pester Bush if he was ready to flip-flop on same-sex marriage. Bush declined the offer. Odds are that when it comes time to open up the Trump Library, he will get the George W. Bush treatment from the media, not the Clinton or Obama treatment. Here is a transcript for the June 17 show: MS NOW On the Line with Alicia Menendez 6/17/2026 1:50 PM ET ALICIA MENENDEZ: Tomorrow is the grand opening of the Obama presidential center here in Chicago, not just a tribute to the nation's first black president, but the country he represented and the city that first gave him a shot as a young political upstart.  And this is no typical presidential library. The sprawling campus is meant to function as a community hub. There is a basketball court, a recording studio, a teaching kitchen, and fruit and vegetable garden, a beehive that functions as part of a sustainable ecosystem, a children's playground, and, of course, the presidential reading room, part of a new Chicago Public Library branch with roughly 3,500 book titles handpicked by the Obamas.