In possible jab at Trump, Hawaii to erect statue honoring President Obama
The 44th chief executive didn't build his presidential library in his homestate, but legislators there still want a monument to him
On Tuesday, a state Senate Judiciary Committee in Hawaii unanimously passed a resolution calling for a statue of its most well-known native son, former President Barack Obama.
The resolution calls for the statue to be commissioned by means (to later be specified) through the state’s Foundation on Culture and the Arts, according to Honolulu station KITV. The agency will also have the option to select a special committee for the task of choosing its location to be erected, the artist to create it and to review and approve the design prior to creation.
READ MORE: California sues Trump over controversial census question
The resolution will now go to the Hawaii Senate’s Ways and Means Committee for further consideration.
The approval could be taken as a subtle stand against the Trump Administration.
Obama, who was born in the state, went through a rather long and grueling period of taunting during his presidential campaign by President Trump. Trump led what came to be called the “birther movement,” which contended for years that Obama was born outside of the U.S. Primarily, they falsely argued that he was born in Kenya where his father resided prior to his death.
Eventually, Obama released his birth certificate to counter Trump’s claims. A national inquiry into them spearheaded by Sheriff Joe Arpaio was also later closed after probing of its “false creation” found no merit.
An attempt at more
Hawaii had once lobbied to get the former president to construct his presidential library there.
READ MORE: Little girl staring at Michelle Obama portrait in viral photo thought she was a queen
Although Obama was born in Hawaii and spent much of his childhood and adolescence in the state, he lived and worked in Chicago, where he developed as a young adult and eventually ran for the Illinois state legislature and then the U.S. Senate before his initial White House bid. For this reason, Hawaii was passed over in 2013 for the location of the Obama Presidential Museum in favor of Chicago.
Hawaii officials attempted to gently press Obama’s sister Maya Soetoro-Ng and close friends for the deal and even set aside prime oceanfront real estate in case he chose his home state.
However, in 2016 Obama announced that he had chosen Chicago’s South Side for the construction of the building.
