The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC and The New Yorker.

Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.

The Obama Presidential Center opens next month on the Chicago Lakeshore.

It has the usual replica of the Oval Office and many floors of art

installations by some spectacular living artists, but it also describes itself not as a museum,

but as a center for civic engagement. Yeah, we've got a storytelling booth. So we want every visitor

to go in there and talk about their own lives and

what's happening in their communities and what frustrations they have and what changes

they think they could bring about. Much like working did back then, except this will be

digitally recorded. Tickets to visit went on sale this week.

When Barack Obama left office in January of 2017, his approval ratings were relatively high,

and yet he was handing over the reins to a man whose policy and character was in every way

a repudiation of what Obama meant to people.

Trump promised to undo Obama's accomplishments.

Nearly every one, he would end the Iran nuclear deal.

He would certainly go after Obamacare.

And to this day, Trump insults the Obama's in blatantly racist terms.

So the question of Barack Obama's legacy is clouded and complicated.

Peter Slevin, who lives in Chicago and covers politics for the New Yorker,

has reported on Barack Obama's post-presidency in the magazine,

and he recently met with the former president.

Peter. in the magazine, and he recently met with the former president. Peter, we have been talking about Obama for a very long time. I remember very distinctly

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