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How Many Lives Could Barack Obama's Library Have Saved?

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  June 30, 2026 12:00 PM

In a month where Leftists had no end to the suggestions about what they would do with Elon Musk's wealth if they confiscated it, I can't help but notice how the same people accusing Musk of murdering millions in Africa are selective in their wealth outrage and desire for confiscation.

In the city of Chicago, which is about 90 minutes south of me, roughly 17 percent of the city's residents live in poverty. That's about 448,000 people, and of those, more than 160,000 were in 'deep poverty,' below 50 percent of the poverty threshold. That works out to about $21 per person per day. The majority of Chicago residents are Black or Hispanic, and about 29 percent of Black and 15 percent of Hispanic Chicagoans live in poverty.

It's estimated that 25 percent of Chicagoans face food insecurity and persistent hunger.

For the 2025-2026 school year, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) face a $734 million deficit, driven by the end of federal pandemic aid and pension obligations. On top of that, students in CPS test well below the national average in math and reading, with just 31 percent proficient in reading and 18 percent proficient in math.

Chicago is also one of the most violent cities in the United States, with 416 homicides and 1,471 shootings in 2025. For the start of 2026, homicides are up roughly six percent and shootings are up slightly, too.

Despite these deplorable statistics, Democrats celebrated the Barack Obama Presidential Library, which opened about two weeks ago. The brutalist building, which looks like something straight out of the Empire in Star Wars, cost roughly $850 million. Of that, about $200 million came from taxpayers. 

Yet not a single Democrat took to social media or ran in front of a camera to complain about the waste of money that is the Obama Presidential Library. They save that outrage for when Republicans spend money to improve our National Mall, the White House, and other things.

I'm a big believer in holding the Left to their own rules, so let's do that. If Elon Musk is responsible for the deaths of 4.5 million people in Africa — as Ro Khanna falsely claimed — how many deaths is Barack Obama responsible for in Chicago? The Left's own standard is that we have to confiscate Musk's wealth because we can use it to end hunger, stop homelessness, and fund the Left's socialist programs for years.

With the money Obama spent on his library, he could have wiped out the CPS budget deficit. He could have funded food banks and ended hunger in the Windy City. He could have invested in CPS and improved education for Chicago's children. He could have cut a check to impoverished Chicagoans to help lift them out of poverty.

Instead, he stole some of their green space for this monument to his massive ego, and he's charging them $30 to enter, and they must also show identification before they're let in. I'm old enough to remember when demanding ID was disenfranchising to Black Americans, who are — according to Democrats — too poor and too stupid to get this basic document that you need for everything.

I guess this is (D)ifferent.

Democrats are not known for their moral and logical consistency, but it's worth hammering them on this issue. Elon Musk created Tesla, SpaceX, and other companies that give people jobs, generate wealth, and improve our world. Despite that, Democrats paint him as greedy and destructive to society. They demand that the government take Musk's wealth to redistribute it to causes and people they deem worthy, and when he pushes back, he's the embodiment of evil.

Meanwhile, Obama could have donated his papers and presidential memorabilia to a university, much as George W. Bush did. He didn't need a massive, Lord Farquaad-esque building on Chicago's lakefront. He could have used the money he raised to help people in his city. He was a 'community organizer,' after all. But he didn't. And Democrats clapped.

So the lesson here is this: the Left's moral preening on the wealthy paying their 'fair share' is all performative. They're never willing to put their own money where their mouths are, and they have no problem wasting billions on their pet projects. If they're not willing to help their own communities, as Barack Obama clearly demonstrated, trillionaires, billionaires, and millionaires have no obligation to do that for them.