Obama the President Has a Posse

If you walked around the East Side of Providence in the late 1980s and early ’90s, you probably remember the sticker-face of wrestler Andre the Giant staring back at you from stop signs, telephone poles, Dumpsters and kiosks. Mysterious messages – “Andre the Giant Has a Posse” and “OBEY” – often accompanied the mugs, which were the work of Rhode Island School of Design student Shepard Fairey, who turned guerilla street art into a career. Fairey, now living in Los Angeles, is the artist who created the most indelible image of the Obama campaign, the red-white-and-blue screened portrait paired with the word “HOPE” (coincidentally, Rhode Island’s motto).

A proponent of Heidegger’s theory of phenomenology, Fairey has already played a role in the Obama phenomenon. But even he couldn’t have predicted the boom in all things Barack, when every other economic indicator has gone bust.

On the eve of tomorrow’s Inauguration Day, everybody wants a piece of Obama. The Washington Post and The New York Times have reported at length on the numbers of official and unofficial souvenir stores and sidewalk stands popping up in D.C., mostly in the Penn Quarter area, selling Obama swag.

Along with the traditional President Obama pens, pins, posters, T-shirts, toques, bumper stickers, can openers, paperweights, pint glasses, commemorative plates, commemorative coins, stamps, lighters, license plates, wristbands and wristwatches, there are Obama guitars (and straps), signature baseballs, dog tags, retro mousepads, coloring books and glow-in-the-dark refrigerator magnets. You can get an “Obama ’08” glowing neon sign, a “Barack on Broadway” playbill, an Obama bobblehead, Obama/Biden cookies, Obama keychain (with retractable knife, ruler, bottle opener and fingernail file) and even an Obama Advent calendar. There are also Obama Metro fare cards for the D.C. area, candy bars, wine, yo-yos, piggy banks, designer tote bags, “Hope on a Rope” soap, Obama Inauguration Hot Sauce, “Hope and Change” necklaces and Obama toilet paper (just for show; the ink is toxic).

There are buttons galore, including a stumping Homer Simpson (“Homer for Obama”) and a troll doll constituent (“Trollin’ for Obama”). Obama trading cards, cigar box cases, a magnet series, playing cards (with George W. Bush and John McCain as the jokers), “I Kiss Barack” lipstick and chapstick, and Obama Post-It note holders (for good ideas). Hallmark has put out a “Yes You Can” greeting card. Instead of Teddy Bears (a classic child’s toy inspired by former President Teddy Roosevelt), we now have Obama Bears. A toy also prompted the invention of Barack-in-the-box. (Although wasn’t Jack-in-the-box intended to give kids a fright? And, if so, wouldn’t Cheney-in-the-bunker be more appropriate?)

Among the weirdest: A “Live Long and Prosper” Obama Vulcan T-shirt with Barack flashing the Vulcan greeting, appealing to the “Trek” geek demographic. And a mock debate figure set, complete with lecterns, flags and the trappings of a TV studio. The strange part? Obama and Hillary Clinton are depicted debating one another – as skeletons.

The New York Times reports that Obama sex toys are flying off the shelves. We’ll leave those to the imagination, but even though the novelty of the McCain condom has worn off, the Obama condom (“Use with Good Judgment”) is still going strong. On a related note, one of the oddest top-selling items is the Inauguration Obama thong.

The Ikea store has created a replica of the Oval Office in Washington’s Union Station under the banner “Change Begins at Home.” Inside the train station, the words “HOPE” and “OPTIMISM” are on display, with the Os replaced by Pepsi logos.

Every successful revolution eventually ends up a commodity. Some small hope then, as we try to Obama our way out of our economic morass.

This week’s question (now that the Obama administration is using “Hope” as its working mantra): If Rhode Island had to come up with a new motto, what would it be?

Quickie for Size
My father passed along this e-mail making note of another “size of Rhode Island” reference, after watching “Bill Moyers Journal” on PBS. Moyers was interviewing historian Simon Schama, whose four-part mini-series “The American Future: A History” airs on the BBC.

Schama was commenting on the American Dream and its derailment during this critical time and he said: "You can’t have Hummers the size of Rhode Island."