Obama seeks new middle ground: His presidential center is greeted with excitement and wariness in Chicago

CHICAGO - When we last checked in on plans for the Barack Obama Presidential Center, in early May, architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien had just unveiled preliminary designs for the three-building campus in Jackson Park, on the South Side of Chicago.

In architectural terms the proposal has barely inched forward since, at least in terms of what's been shared with the public. (It is officially a "Presidential Center" and not a "Presidential Library" because Obama plans to operate it without help from the National Archives.) But a debate about the role it will play on the South Side, economically and in terms of urban planning, has been heating up in Chicago. The Obama Foundation, which is overseeing planning and fundraising efforts for the project, held a public event last month at McCormick Place, the giant convention center on the Near South Side, to promote and explain its plans.

It was probably when the high school marching band arranged