From beer to ice cream, lapel pins to T-shirts, if it has anything to do with US president-elect Barack Obama, it’s selling like hotcakes as people everywhere snap up souvenirs marking his inauguration.
“So many people want a memento of this historic time,” said Ann Hand, a jewelry maker in Washington who has made a collection of accessories to commemorate Obama’s swearing-in.
Hand offers cuff links featuring the red, white and blue ‘O’ logo of the Obama campaign, a necklace reprising Obama’s “Hope” theme, sunglasses encrusted with Swarovski crystal to spell out the name of the 44th US president and half a dozen other jewelry items.
None come cheap, but even in a slumping global economy, demand has been so strong that many of the accessories are on back order.
“Everything is selling better than I expected. We’re doing a lot of overseas orders — Hong Kong, Norway, Sweden, Singapore, Japan, Britain. We’ve never had that before,” said Hand, who has been in business for 20 years.
“It’s really wonderful to know that people overseas want our president’s lapel pin,” she said.
A shop selling official “Obamabilia” opened on Saturday in Washington, offering items like a T-shirt featuring artist Shepard Fairey’s iconic rendering of the president-elect under the words “Be the change” for US$30 and a small wooden train with the inaugural seal for US$22.
A Diane von Furstenberg tote bag was selling for US$70 and an organic cotton black T-shirt by Donna Karan for US$45.
“We’ve been swamped. I can’t even keep things on the shelves,” said shop manager Joe Reid, as Washington resident Deborah Watts left the shop with badges, pencils and a long-sleeve T-shirt.
“It’s a little pricey and the pencils are downright overpriced at US$2 a piece,” Watts said. “But I had to come and buy something official to remember this by.”
Claudia Jeanette of Michigan bought one of the wooden trains and a plastic blue piggy bank for her grandchildren.
“What’s funny is my husband works for a bank in Michigan and they give the exact same piggy banks away for free when people open a new account,” she said.
Obama fans can drink to and lick in the new president, too. The Capital City brewery is serving “Inaugurale” beer at its brasseries in Washington, including one in the shadow of the Capitol, where Obama will be sworn in.
Ben and Jerry’s has borrowed Obama’s “Yes we can” campaign slogan and rolled out “Yes Pecan” ice cream.
The official souvenir shop was offering a china plate for US$82, a beer stein for US$15 and stemless wineglasses for US$40 for a set of four.
The official souvenirs are available online too, and fans who don’t want to spend US$82 for a commemorative plate could always go for the Obama victory plate.
This “piece of fine porcelain with 22-karat gold trim” will remind proud purchasers for years to come of Obama’s “comforting smile and kind eyes,” according to the announcer who sells the victory plate in a TV ad that has spawned a series of spoof infomercials on YouTube.
Marvel Comics will next week release the 583rd adventure of the Amazing Spider-Man — featuring Obama.
Marvel decided to publish the Obama meets Spidey comic after learning the soon-to-be president of the US is a long-time fan of the web-spinning super hero.
“A Spider-Man fan moving into the Oval Office is an event that must be commemorated in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man,” Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada said.
The Washington Times will publish a special inaugural keepsake edition on Jan. 21 that will include “messages of hope” sent by readers to the new president.
But one of the most affordable and useful souvenirs will be the Washington public transportation system’s permanent fare ticket, or SmartCard, featuring a smiling Obama.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not