The Commercialization of an Inauguration

I want to preface this post by saying this is in no way politically motivated.  I do like Obama, voted for him and glad that he won.  I do believe he will be an excellent president.  I also love the synergy of having the inauguration a day after Martin Luther King day.  We all know that MLK would be proud and quite honestly, this day may not have come for a long time without the work of the good Dr.  But historic events always have a side that is just as sad as it may be inspiring.  For this specific event, it’s the ridiculous merchandising.  QVC has had shows full of Obama merch.  Coins, shirts, tea cosies, scotch tape and even underwear.  This all inspired me to go on a quest for the best of the worst.  There is so much garbage out there that people are tying into this election to make a quick buck that it’s easy to make fun of.  One of the best parts of all of this is that NONE of it is officially licensed or endorsed.  That’s how you know it’s quality, when the person who it is commemorating doesn’t even acknowledge it’s existence.  Of course we could avoid all this is people wouldn’t buy it, but we all know that isn’t going to happen… Here is some awesome stuff I found through very easy Internet searches.

eBay is the gateway to a whole ton of this crap… Here are my favorites:

-For the low, low price of $744.00 you can get this unopened box of Hennesy.  12 bottles commemorating our 44th president…  Really, this is really what we want to use to mark this historical event?  12 bottles of Cognac?  Wow.

 

Bit by a mutant spider? Yes we can!

-I like Obama.  I like Spider-Man.  I like comic books.  I do not, however, like a Spider-Man comic book with Barack Obama.  I haven’t read this but I assume the best quote out of here is: “My Presidential senses are tingling!!!”

Why would Obama’s number be on the internet?

Most dangerous home phone number eva!!!!

Answer… It wouldn’t.  But that doesn’t stop people from trying very hard to make a big deal out of nothing.  Thanks to TD’s Hawt post on the front page of WordPress today, I found out that Google lists Obama’s home phone number as the direct line of the Party of Socialism and Liberation.  This of course leads all of the crazies (in both directions, right or left) to make ludicrous statements instead of doing something like looking at this for what it is.  A 3rd party web-page with Barack Obama’s home address and a phone number that may very well have been put in there as a joke, error or maybe even a hack.  How could it be a joke or error you ask?  Well this is the Internet and this is Google we are talking about, you need to take it with a grain of salt.  Next up, this would be a LAND LINE number.  How could a San Fransisco area code show up in Illinois?  It can’t. Which makes this harder to believe or even care about.