When former President Barack Obama addressed the massive, merry crowd at the Obama Presidential Center dedication ceremony on June 18, a few lines landed like a balm.

“For us to give up, for us to give in now, after all this country has been through, to cynicism and division would be a betrayal of our founding ideals, a betrayal of our faith.”

Followed by this one: “And I remain convinced that the overwhelming majority of Americans feel the same way, that as unsettled as we are, people aren’t looking for perpetual anger and division. They are looking for fairness and common sense and mutual respect, that deep in our gut we want to find a way to turn towards each other again, not further away.”

Behind him sat a bipartisan group of former presidents and first ladies. In front of him sat leaders and artists and teachers and students and preachers and people from every walk of life, gathered in person and on live streams to witness history and also, if we’re honest, to remember what it feels like when a president conjures the best of us.

But Obama had little use for nostalgia that day.

“The exhibits in the center are not meant to evoke nostalgia for some gauzy, bygone era, some unattainable past that we can dream about, and say, oh, we miss you, Barack,” he told the crowd. “They’re meant to remind us of who we can be, to remind us of what’s possible, so we can forge ahead, clear-eyed and confident, and do the work that still needs to be done.”

Obamas hope presidential center in Chicago will be........

© Chicago Tribune