‘Concert on the Mall’
courtesy of ‘Alex Barth’
Leaving work yesterday, I walked up Massachusetts to Union Station, and wound up pushing my way through a barrage of Obama swag, and screaming sellers. One seller was on his cell phone telling another person “come down here, there are tons more people here!”
I was offered a poster of shirtless Obama, a 2009 Obama calendar, first family mouse pad, and more tee shirts than Joey wore when he was being Chandler. There was everything, literally EVERYTHING I could want with Obama’s face (though I didn’t spot the coveted Obama Flip Flops). There was a woman pushing a walker trying to sell tees 4 for $20, and another guy hawking the hard-to-find WaPo election day paper.
Did anyone else experience this crazy Obama-market? And I swear I read somewhere (can’t remember!) that street sellers were going to have to cease selling Obama’s image on everything – cookies, money, vanity plates – after the election. Does anyone else remember that?
Yeah, I saw this too on Inauguration day. I’m surprised it’s still there, because I remember hearing the same thing you did…that street vendors couldn’t sell any more Obama gear after the Inauguration. Curious
I have been experiencing it every single day this week. Union Station is my Metro stop, and while I applaud the enterprising spirit of inaugural memorabilia street vendors, I do not appreciate them blocking every way out of the station.
Monday and Tuesday night they had actually overrun the jersey barriers on the approach to the 1st St NE entrance; you could not get in or out of Union Station without going through a shield of multiple layers of vendors, some who had started using the barrier lanes as merchandise storerooms, to the detriment of thousands of commuters and DC visitors. I briefly contemplated calling 911 to report it as a possible safety hazard but I figure emergency responders had far worse things to worry about.
I believe you read it right here on We Love DC that the Obama image merchants were going to start getting letters. But good luck enforcing that- politicians have curtailed rights of publicity since stuff with their faces on it dances close to protected political speech.
I definitely ran into this head-on too around 5:45pm last night – a terrible time for me to decide to peruse the books at B. Dalton’s on my way back from work (what was I thinking?)… I must say though, I was at least relieved when I realized the massive crowds were there for the Obama bazaar and not in line for the Metro (as I had initially thought).
They do not have to stop selling things with his visage (he is a public figure after all). I think the main issue is the Presidential Seal.