Obama’s Newfound Concern for Chicago

In an effort to relaunch his public profile, former President Barack Obama returned to Chicago on Monday, a violence-racked city where law and order steadily eroded during the eight years of his presidency.

Obama spoke at the University of Chicago as part of a “Conversation on Civic Engagement” with six pre-selected students. The former president touted his life experiences, explaining his biography as a community organizer in Chicago, an experience he parlayed into a state senatorship, and then a U.S. Senate seat and, finally, the presidency.

Obama visited the Windy City a total of 19 times during his eight years in office. Ten of those visits were to attend fundraisers.

Indeed, when then Sen. Obama was campaigning to be president, prior to the 2008 election, he would often reference his time in Chicago. Throughout his presidency, he stressed unity and social responsibility. In 2014, he launched the widely-touted “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative, a public-private initiative designed to help young men of color live healthy, productive lives and reach their full potential.

“It’s about all of us working together,” Obama said at the time. “Because ensuring that all of our young people go as far as their dreams and hard work will take them is the single most important task that we have as a nation. It is the single most important thing we can do for our country’s future.”

But almost four years and multiple “My Brother’s Keeper” summits later, the average quality of life and opportunities for a young black man in inner-city Chicago have not improved.

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There were 411 homicides in the city of Chicago in 2014, the year Obama’s initiative was launched, according to the Associated Press. The number of homicides in the city rose to 478 the following year and had exploded to 762 by 2016.

According to the Chicago Tribune, there have already been 948 shooting victims in Chicago from January 1 of this year to April 22.

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Despite the carnage that unfolded under his watch in his home city, President Obama scarcely spent time rallying Chicago to end the wave of violent crime.

Obama barely visited the city during his time in office — and when he did decide to go, it was usually for the political purpose of fundraising. Obama visited the Windy City a total of 19 times during his eight years in office. Ten of those visits were to attend fundraisers and at least two were to support local Democratic campaigns.

Shortly before leaving office, it was announced that Obama would continue his work with My Brother’s Keeper. “This is all very personal to the president,” said Broderick Johnson, a White House cabinet secretary who serves as the chairman of the initiative. “It’s a life mission for all of us.” Johnson’s comments came barely a month after Chicago passed its 500th homicide of the year.

As Mark Caputo, senior writer for Politico, tweeted observantly, “Hey. Obama’s gonna give a speech that won’t change anything. It’s like he never left.”