MS NOW aired a two-hour special hosted by Michele Norris with the presumptuous title of Hope Comes Home, which featured a tour of the new Obama Presidential Center and interviews with Barack and Michelle. During the show, Norris would suggest that if there was any real criticism to be made of Obama, it was that he was not left-wing enough, but the good news is that the American people “have inherited what President Obama likes to call the work.” She would also gush over Michelle’s “star power” and insist she is not merely “a style icon.” During one segment, Norris directed viewers towards one particular item on display, “The first thing you may notice about this piece of paper is how tidy and neat the handwriting is. Around 2015, President Obama reached for his yellow legal pad to sketch out his to-do list, his policy roadmap for the remaining two years of his presidency.”   During a two-hour special on the opening up of the Obama Presidential Center, the closest thing host Michele Norris got to criticism is that Obama wasn't left enough, "there are the more ambitious goals criminal justice reform, close the gun show loophole. Voting rights… pic.twitter.com/eJcWelZr5p — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) June 20, 2026   After highlighting some “obvious stuff,” Norris moved on to “the more ambitious goals: criminal justice reform, close the gun show loophole. Voting rights legislation. Looking back at it now, that list is stunning in its ambition. For all he got done over eight years in office, President Obama did not get as far as he wanted on criminal justice reform or gun safety. He did not get to sign new voting rights legislation.” Norris then claimed, “His list, on its face, might seem like a counterintuitive choice to be displayed in a presidential museum. A big, yellow, neatly scrawled reminder to the country of all the ways his administration came up short.” After a quick Obama clip from 2015, Norris continued, “But for President Obama, that reminder is intentional. The unfinished business of his administration is part of the story that he wanted to tell. Displaying the list of priorities is a deliberate way of reminding Americans that governing is difficult, that friction is the price we pay for pushing toward change, and that progress is now up to the American people. They have inherited what President Obama likes to call the work. That remains at a time when this country is wrestling with deep questions about citizenship, democracy, and America's place in the world.” Later in the program, it was time for Norris to fawn over Michelle, “The former first lady has star power of her own, and her emergence on the global stage is also captured in the museum. The display of some of her standout dresses and gowns has already become a favorite with visitors.”   When it came time for the Michelle hype, Norris claimed, "The former first lady has star power of her own, and her emergence on the global stage is also captured in the museum...But let's be clear Michelle Obama was more than a style icon, more than a best-selling author, more… pic.twitter.com/hj72jNcemL — Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) June 20, 2026   She then hyped, “But let's be clear: Michelle Obama was more than a style icon, more than a best-selling author, more than just Barack Obama's wife. She was an integral part of the Obama White House with her own initiatives, her own fans, and her own critics. Her presence at this museum is not an afterthought. Her memorabilia is not pushed into a corner of the museum somewhere. Her role in the White House is woven throughout the larger story. All over the campus, you will hear her voice and her most famous speeches as you walk through the museum.” Norris then gushed over “her gardening glove from her days planting fruits and vegetables on the White House grounds” and “a miniature recreation of the time she hosted a Girl Scout camp on the South Lawn...Above all, the Obama Presidential Center examines the former first lady as an intellectual partner with an interior life and a legacy worth preserving because Michelle Obama is no one's second fiddle.” The media treating the Obama Presidential Center as if it were some sort of holy shrine is simply the latest chapter in their history of Obama adoration. So much for speaking truth to power. Here is a transcript for the June 19 show: MS NOW Hope Comes Home: Inside the Obama Presidential Center 6/19/2026 9:44 PM ET MICHELE NORRIS: The first thing you may notice about this piece of paper is how tidy and neat the handwriting is. Around 2015, President Obama reached for his yellow legal pad to sketch out his to-do list, his policy roadmap for the remaining two years of his presidency. The header up top, underlined in ink, says “domestic agenda.” He ticks through the obvious stuff: negotiate the budget, take care of open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act, known as the ACA. Finish implementing the Dodd-Frank Act, the landmark Wall Street reform bill. And then there are the more ambitious goals: criminal justice reform, close the gun show loophole. Voting rights legislation. Looking back at it now, that list is stunning in its ambition. For all he got done over eight years in office, President Obama did not get as far as he wanted on criminal justice reform or gun safety. He did not get to sign new voting rights legislation. His list, on its face, might seem like a counterintuitive choice to be displayed in a presidential museum. A big, yellow, neatly scrawled reminder to the country of all the ways his administration came up short. BARACK OBAMA [DECEMBER 18, 2015]: For all the very real progress America has made over the past seven years, we still have some unfinished business. NORRIS: But for President Obama, that reminder is intentional. The unfinished business of his administration is part of the story that he wanted to tell. Displaying the list of priorities is a deliberate way of reminding Americans that governing is difficult, that friction is the price we pay for pushing toward change, and that progress is now up to the American people. They have inherited what President Obama likes to call the work. That remains at a time when this country is wrestling with deep questions about citizenship, democracy, and America's place in the world. … 10:17 PM ET NORRIS: The former first lady has star power of her own, and her emergence on the global stage is also captured in the museum. The display of some of her standout dresses and gowns has already become a favorite with visitors. TOUR GUIDE: So here is what President Obama refers to as the exhibit that everybody wants to see. NORRIS: But let's be clear: Michelle Obama was more than a style icon, more than a best-selling author, more than just Barack Obama's wife. She was an integral part of the Obama White House with her own initiatives, her own fans, and her own critics. Her presence at this museum is not an afterthought. Her memorabilia is not pushed into a corner of the museum somewhere. Her role in the White House is woven throughout the larger story. All over the campus, you will hear her voice and her most famous speeches as you walk through the museum. MICHELLE OBAMA [AUGUST 25, 2008]: That the American dream endures. NORRIS: You can see her gardening glove from her days planting fruits and vegetables on the White House grounds, a miniature recreation of the time she hosted a Girl Scout camp on the South Lawn. The museum explores her upbringing on the south side and her accomplishments at Princeton and Harvard. At the restaurant on campus, you can order the red rice that's based on her mother's recipe. The sledding hill, that was the First Lady's idea, she insisted. So south side kids today could fulfill one of her girlhood dreams. She had always wished that the pancake-flat prairie terrain of Chicago had hills for sledding during those long Chicago winters. Above all, the Obama Presidential Center examines the former first lady as an intellectual partner with an interior life and a legacy worth preserving because Michelle Obama is no one's second fiddle.