Joe Biden has finally made his choice for the site of his presidential library—and it’s not Beijing, China.
Actually, it’s planned for his home state of Delaware. However, even though the library will be in familiar territory, the road ahead will not be smooth, especially as they try to raise the money for a project of this scale.
Biden has assembled a 13-member governance board tasked with overseeing fundraising and site selection, including Antony Blinken, Steve Ricchetti, Rufus Gifford, and other Biden-world regulars who’ve been with him and Jill Biden every step of the way. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a man who has relied on loyalists more than visionary outsiders for most of his career. But the real test isn’t whether Biden can put together a board—it’s whether they can convince donors to write the big checks needed to compete with the massive presidential libraries of recent history.
And that’s where the problems start. Democrats are fractured, divided, and, frankly, disillusioned with Joe Biden. Major donors who once bankrolled national campaigns are sitting on their wallets after being burned by Kamala Harris’s $1 billion defeat last year.
Even some high-ranking Democrats have all but promised to shut their wallets tight. As Axios reported back in December, after Biden’s awkward and controversial pardon of his son Hunter, several top Democrats were so livid they threatened to boycott donations for his future library altogether.
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"If they had their sh*t together, they would have been doing the work on this over the summer — right after he announced he was stepping aside," one Democrat explained at the time. "Now, it's just too late. Hopefully they are rightsizing their expectations and budget!"
Of course, that was then. Time may heal some wounds, but still, that’s not exactly the kind of momentum you want when you’re preparing to pass the collection plate.
Rufus Gifford, who chairs the library board, is trying his best to sound upbeat. He insists they will set realistic goals that can be met. But the reality is sobering.
Presidential libraries today don’t come cheap. George H.W. Bush’s library in Texas cost a modest $43 million back in the 1990s. Bill Clinton’s library cost nearly four times as much. George W. Bush raised $500 million for his library. The Obama Foundation set a fundraising goal of $1.6 billion for that towering turd they’re building in Chicago.
Let’s be honest here: Biden’s library is almost certainly going to land at the low end of those numbers.
Worse yet, Biden’s team is behind schedule. In recent decades, presidents have often announced their library sites well before leaving office. Some even had construction planning underway before they said goodbye to the White House.
Biden wants his Delaware library to be more than a simple archive. Plans describe an immersive museum of his presidency, as well as spaces devoted to civic engagement, education, leadership, and policy debates.
Pause for laughter.
It’s pitched as a hub for the kind of public service and civic life Biden likes to wrap his legacy around. But lofty plans require deep pockets, and right now Biden’s pockets don’t look nearly deep enough. Biden no longer has influence to sell, so he can't even look to China.
Biden’s Delaware presidential library faces big challenges: fractured Democrats, disappointed donors, and delayed plans. PJ Media shines a light on these hard truths the mainstream media won’t touch. Join PJ Media VIP today—use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off and gain access to exclusive content, ad-free browsing, and more. Don’t wait, join today!
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