TV Land PRIME blog

President Barack Obama is a rock star. In the world of kitschy buttons and logo-stamped mugs, this sentiment rings distinctly true. It was freezing in Washington, D.C., but that didn’t discourage the millions who descended upon the National Mall to witness the historic inauguration yesterday.

It also didn’t discourage the hordes of souvenir vendors who lined the pedestrian paths hawking everything Obama. I’m not an expert in mementos, but Obama Mania certainly makes this crop of souvenirs a step above the rest.

You couldn’t miss them. Buttons. Everywhere. Their sellers were mobile. They came to you during the most inopportune times, lugging their stash in duffle bags and suitcases as you were in line -- which was 99.9 percent of the time. You couldn’t help but take a peek. There was something endearing about our 44th president’s photo and an inscription beneath it earnestly touting “He Is the Hottest.”

 

And he may even be “The Coolest.” You too can worship President Obama in the comfort of your own home -- by hanging a poster-sized special edition Ebony cover pegging Obama as one of “The 25 Coolest Brothers of All Time.”

The spirit of the next generation was also well-represented at the inauguration in the form of button-pushers, T-shirt vendors, poster rollers and… 15-year-old Obama earring artists. For just $10, you could grace your lobes with our president’s image as well as bragging rights that these are indeed “one of a kind.”

 

At the end of it all, I’m not really sure how 10 baseball caps, several pins and a couple of posters ended up in my over-stuffed suitcase on the way out of our nation’s capital. I only know this: Change is definitely in the air, and it’s oozing out of my pocketbook on this cold January day.

Did you buy any Obama memorabilia? Here’s a Colbert Report clip summing up some of the highlights of the Obama offerings, pre-inauguration.