Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Obama Condoms by Amanda Dayton

Obama condoms…what’s next?

He’s part celebrity, part politician, part sex symbol, part pioneer, and now he’s our president. As Obama worked his way up the ranks of American politics, he gained a seemingly unprecedented following. With the deafening roar of excitement that permeated Washington D.C. early last week for the Presidential Inauguration, came another new trend in American politics - Obama memorabilia.

It was anticipated that the new president would find his way onto postcards and t-shirts, but Barack has hit the mother load when it comes to merchandise.
Immediately after stepping off the escalator at any of the D.C. Metrorail stations, inaugural visitors were bombarded by hoards of street vendors looking to make it through the roughening economic times. In order to out-do the competition, each salesperson had a newer, weirder fare to sell. The list ranges from the normal Obama bedazzled hats and girly embroidered scarves to more outrageous afghans, socks, buttons, sunglasses, blinged-out belts, bags, and, oh yes, Obama condoms.

I expected this ground breaking president to be heavily commercialized, but what I didn’t anticipate was for the citizens to buy him up like Beanie Babies. People were dying to get their hands on something that they could use prove they were a part of history in the making. The myriad of merchandise was fun to see, but those who were present for the swearing-in of the first Black president will remember last Tuesday regardless of whether or not they brought home a souvenir.

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