Obamania

Last year in early January, near my home a small shop opened up with signs proudly announcing it was the official store of the 2009 Presidential inauguration. Honestly, I didn’t’ really believe it. Having survived many a presidential inaugurations in DC, a bone of perfect skepticism is lodged in my skull for precisely such claims. As the inauguration week arrived, many otherwise empty storefronts filled up with inaugural souvenirs. As the crowds thickened, I caught the contagion and went into the stores to see for myself. I purchased numerous buttons, post cards and book marks in the day before the inauguration in defiance of my expert knowledge that the exact same knickknacks would go on sale for half off the day after the festivities closed. Predictably, the fun ended and in the ensuing weeks I reached the conclusion I had purchased too many bits. I started giving them away, left and right, to surprised acquaintances barely more than strangers. After a few months had passed, the visage of the previous President recently erased from our collective mind. The other day I was at a crowded lecture at the Smithsonian when the speaker invited people to unleash their frustrations of the moment. “If I see another picture of Obama, I think I’ll scream,” said one woman. We locals know what she means. He is everywhere – on the Internet, On TV, in the paper. Some inaugural shops remaining, the big souvenir trucks scattered around the capital are still capitalizing on this image. And we who live in the city cannot escape... All we can hope for is the visit of a celebrity to supplant briefly Obama and give our vision a break – how about a Prince William from England, or maybe a Brad Pitt from LA – I vote for Jackie Chan from Hong Kong. I’d even settle for Julia Roberts promoting a movie.