From bobbleheads to shot glasses, D.C. is awash in Obama memorabilia
There are Barack Obama action figures, coffee mugs, puzzles, bobbleheads, T-shirts, posters, baseball caps, plaques and wrist watches.
Not enough? How about some shot glasses, beer mugs, colouring books, mints, commemorative plates, chocolate bars, paper dolls, coins and lapel pins.
From gift shops located in the grandeur of the city’s Union Station to street vendors and bookstore chains, there’s barely a corner of Washington, D.C., where Obama merchandise isn’t up for sale and on ostentatious display.
There’s a political supernova moving into the White House next week, and those eager for a piece of history are snapping up all manner of Obama memorabilia with glee as his inauguration approaches.
Americans have already spent almost $200 million on Obama wares over the past few months, and they’re showing no sign of letting up. Not only are they stocking up at various retailers in D.C. and beyond, they’ve also made Obama items top sellers on eBay.
“I don’t think anybody is this popular, quite frankly,” Edward Robertson, a onetime Canadian resident who sells Obama merchandise to various shops throughout the city, said recently at a gift store a few blocks from the White House.
The U.S.-born Robertson, who attended high school in Toronto, went to McGill University and once served in the Canadian army, said he’s been doing a swift business keeping up with demand from merchants for Obama goods.
As a coffee-lover, Robertson himself is partial to the Obama coffee mugs, he said as he dropped off a bundle of posters of the president-elect sketched by an artist from Atlanta, Ga.
With everyone from the Franklin Mint to Borders and newspapers getting in on the action with their own Obama keepsakes, the president-elect’s inaugural team is trying to get a piece of the pie.
