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Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 2:01 PM UTC

Best worst reactions to that Obama presidential library story

The White House disputes a report that Reagan's home could become a parking lot for Obama's presidential library

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Topics: Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, Jay Carney, Chicago, presidential library,

Best worst reactions to that Obama presidential library story(Credit: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

The Daily Mail reported Wednesday that “Former President Ronald Reagan’s childhood Chicago home to be demolished and turned into parking lot – but could it be for Obama’s Presidential Library?” The right, predictably, was outraged, but White House Press Secretary Jay Carney threw cold water on story:

The story initially gained traction about a month ago, when a conservative journalist, Mary Claire Kendall, wrote about it for the Washington Examiner. At the time, the story was picked up by a few bloggers, like Judi McLeod of the Canada Free Press.”To the beat of Joni Mitchell’s song, Big Yellow Taxi running in the background, we’re calling on Michael Reagan and NewsMax.com to come to the rescue of an American tragedy in the making,” McLeod wrote.

The story gained more steam after Bill Kelley, a contributor to the American Spectator and Breitbart.com, picked up the Mail story and wrote about it on the Washington Times communities page, asking if the move was “politically motivated”:

This is still Chicago. Barack Obama’s Chicago. Rahm Emanuel’s Chicago.

It is safe to say that Democrats don’t want any reminders of a Republican president named Reagan and his glory days a stone’s throw from a future Obama Presidential Library.

Better to raze the building now, than later. But do they have the right to erase Ronald Reagan from Chicago history?

The story was reposted by Drudge Report, Newsmax, Fox Nation, and a number of conservative bloggers, who were not pleased. Blogger Pat Dollard wondered if it is an “act of spite.”

And conservatives on Twitter slammed the idea, and used the opportunity to bring up Obama’s birth certificate again:

But Kendall, who runs a blog called “Friends of President Reagan’s Chicago Home,” also echoed Carney on Wednesday and wrote that the claim is “utterly inaccurate,” citing “informed sources in Hyde Park.”

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com. More Jillian Rayfield.

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