“Madigan wants state to spend $100 million on Obama library”

I’ve never been a big fan of the push to bring the Obama library to Chicago.  Obama’s being polarizing doesn’t just mean that the GOP hates him, but also that he’s got a large number of people for whom “adulation” is too mild a word — and I dread the presidential library, the way these things tend to end up, effusive in its praise of his policies and carefully whitewashing anything else.

But still — I’d always figured that this would ultimately happen; that suggestions that Obama would prefer Hawaii so as to bask in the warm weather wouldn’t pan out, if for no other reason than that visitor numbers would be too low to satisfy his ego, and that the massive fundraising that goes on to create such a library would be somewhat more difficult outside the continental U.S.

But now Mike Madigan (Illinois state house speaker and generally unchecked decider of legislation) has decided that the state should pony up some money to make this happen — and not just small change, either.  According to the Tribune,

House Speaker Michael Madigan called today for the state to put up $100 million to boost efforts to land the presidential library and museum of President Barack Obama. 

The speaker joined fellow Democratic Chicago Rep. Monique Davis in introducing legislation to make the construction money available as the sweepstakes to secure the Obama library shifts into a higher gear.

 . . . 

The Madigan-Davis legislation calls for spending up to $100 million “for the construction of a presidential library and museum dedicated to the legacy of President Barack Obama.” The bill seeks to boost a Chicago bid on one of the main criteria for the selection – the bidder’s ability to raise money for the library, which could cost up to $500 million, according to experts.

Which is scary in more than one way.  Honestly, I thought that the president himself raised the cash.  Am I misremembering?  Or is Obama taking a different approach, in his apparent demand that the bidder city do all the work?  

We don’t have the money.  Our governments — state and local sure don’t, and it’s scary to see Madigan deciding otherwise (and he usually gets what he wants).  And our private donors sure ought to be spending their money on something other than a monument to Obama, no matter how much they love him or how much graft they think they can get in return.