Obama's first joint TV interview since 2017 airs ahead of center opening

Barack and Michelle Obama returned to a network television interview together for the first time since leaving office in 2017, speaking with Robin Roberts at the Obama Presidential Center just ahead of its opening on Chicago’s South Side. The interview aired June 17, 2026 and was recorded June 13, placing the couple at the center of a milestone that is both ceremonial and political: the unveiling of a legacy project built to shape how their presidency is remembered.

Barack Obama cast the moment in familiar terms, telling Roberts that many people are “a little discouraged right now,” but arguing that political cycles change and that younger leaders will emerge. He said he now sees himself less as a public-policy “player” and more as a “coach” for the next generation, a framing that fits the center’s purpose as much as the interview itself. The Obamas presented the campus as the culmination of a shared journey from Chicago’s South Side to the White House, with Barack Obama saying the project is meant to encourage new leadership rather than simply preserve old victories.

The Obama Presidential Center is scheduled to hold its grand opening ceremony on June 18, with the public able to begin visiting the campus and museum on June 19. Opening weekend celebrations are set for June 20 and 21. Built on 19.3 acres in Jackson Park near the University of Chicago, the $850 million project includes a four-story museum building, 3.7 acres of parkland, Obama Foundation offices, an auditorium for public events, public art, athletic facilities and a new branch of the Chicago Public Library. The Obama Foundation says most of the campus will be free and open to the public, while museum visits will use timed-entry tickets expected to go on sale in May; school visits are slated to begin in fall 2026.

The foundation is pitching the center as more than a memorial. It will include gardens, plazas, walking paths, a Great Lawn, a playground, a cafe, a restaurant, a store and spaces for music, sports, workshops, talks, exhibits and tours. The museum is expected to place the Obama years inside a broader arc of American change, linking them to the Declaration of Independence, civil rights and labor movements, and the Chicago grassroots politics that helped propel Barack Obama to national prominence.

But the opening has also sharpened unresolved neighborhood questions. Residents and community groups on the South Side have pressed for stronger housing protections, a landlord registry and tougher enforcement of housing standards as fears persist about displacement and rising rents in and around Jackson Park, Woodlawn and South Shore. That tension gives the center a test beyond symbolism: whether a landmark built to celebrate the Obamas can also deliver durable gains to the community that helped make their rise possible.