Obama and Mark Hamill Film May the 4th Promo for Presidential Center as Star Wars Fandom Fractures
Barack Obama and Mark Hamill stood in front of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago on May the 4th and filmed a 68-second promotional video for the facility’s June 19 opening. The Obama Foundation posted it to X. The full transcript is worth reading in sequence.
Obama opens: “Happy Star Wars Day from the Obama Presidential Center. I have a very good feeling about this.”
He then delivers the pitch: “Mark, I am glad you are here. I want to tell you about someone. A young person born into ordinary circumstances, but restless, unsatisfied. A kid with big dreams. A bit of a rebel.”
Hamill responds: “I like where this is going.”
Obama continues: “They join a scrappy group of underdogs and set out to change things.”
Hamill asks: “By blowing up a giant space laser?”
Obama delivers the turn: “Mark, this is not about you. As wonderful as you are, this isn’t the monument to my legacy. It is a gateway to yours. The Obama Presidential Center is much more than a museum. It is an entire campus built to empower you. A place to come together, get inspired, and become, for change.”
He then adds: “That’s what I did there. Strong the dad jokes are.”
Hamill laughs and says: “That is perfect!”
Both laugh as the clip ends.
The Obama Foundation captioned the post: “May the Fourth be with YOU, from the Obama Presidential Center. Opening June 19.”
To be clear about what just happened: a former president used one of the most beloved sci-fi franchises in history as a vehicle to market his personal legacy center, compared himself to Luke Skywalker, and had the franchise’s most recognizable living face laugh approvingly at the end. The text overlay on the video reads “HOPE A NEW HOME HAS,” rendered in Star Wars font. The word hope. Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign word. In Star Wars font. At his presidential center.
The political alignment between Lucasfilm and the Obama orbit has never been subtle. Kathleen Kennedy, who ran Star Wars for a decade before stepping down in January 2026, moved in the same Democratic donor circles for years. The franchise’s progressive cultural turn under her tenure was well documented, and the fan backlash was proportional. The Last Jedi killed Han Solo and sidelined Luke Skywalker. Solo lost money. The Rise of Skywalker earned roughly half of The Force Awakens’ domestic gross. The Acolyte got cancelled after one season. Kennedy stepped down in January 2026 after years of declining returns.
The Obama Foundation video is the logical endpoint of that era’s relationship with the IP.
Meanwhile, the White House took a different approach to May the 4th. The official White House X account posted an AI-generated image of President Trump as the Mandalorian, helmet on, holding Grogu.
Conservative commentator Jack Posobiec responded to the Obama-Hamill video by calling Star Wars “fake and gay” multiple times on X and urging followers to stop engaging with the Disney property entirely. His posts drew traction from fans who have spent years watching the franchise used as a cultural messaging vehicle.
The Mandalorian film opens June 22. It is currently tracking at $65 million domestic according to World of Reel, which would be the lowest Disney-era Star Wars opening ever. Solo opened at $84.4 million and was considered a commercial disaster. Jon Favreau scrapped an entire planned season of Mandalorian television to make a standalone film accessible to audiences who had never seen the show, telling reporters he “had to start from scratch.”
The franchise that once united everyone now functions as a cultural dividing line. Obama gets the Star Wars dad joke promo. Trump gets the Mandalorian image. Hamill laughs and calls it perfect. Posobiec calls the whole property fake and gay. The Mandalorian film opens in seven weeks to whatever audience is left.
What do you think of Obama and Hamill’s May the 4th promo? Let us know in the comments.
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