Yes, it iscreepy. Sometimes I feel like a hostage in Jonestown.
29 thoughts on “The Obama Shop”
Let them have their fun. While Obama may be a disaster for our country, there is no denying he is indeed an iconic cultural phenomena as well for a certain segment of the population. Seeing a store devoted to Obama is only a little less surprising than seeing a church devoted to Obama.
The troubling part of this is not that the store exists, its that there are enough people wanting to buy stuff there to support the store’s existence.
The troubling part of this is not that the store exists, its that there are enough people wanting to buy stuff there to support the store’s existence.
Yes, that’s what’s creepy about it.
Does The One accept offerings of peanuts at his shrines?
It’s entirely a possible the store is a money losing proposition. After all, you really don’t think that every last dollar of the $750 billion stimulus bill has been kept track of.
Judith Warner
“Just as having a president who can string a sentence together with subject-verb agreement makes us all look a little bit smarter…”
Where’s my cluebat? Looking smarter certainly doesn’t mean acting smarter. What a tool.
Whats that line about a fool and his money…….?
Someone should remind Ms Warner that we have no evidence that “The One” could string sentences together so well were it not for his ever present verbal crutch the teleprompter.
I once worked with a woman who had one wall of her living room devoted to Princess Diana. She had enlarged photos of her in full princess regalia, dolls, plates, etc. I’m sure that today there are similar setups in homes across the USA. Obama is America’s Princess Di.
When do Michelle and the kids get their own stores?
If you drive anywhere near Notre Dame, there are a creepy number of stores where you can only buy t-shirts and other such crap celebrating one of the local football teams. Same goes for Green Bay. Etc, etc. Did you know that at certain times of the year, an enormous number of Americans people spend their Sundays to cheering for football players instead of keeping the Sabbath holy? Very creepy, very Jonestown.
Oh, and at various places around the country, including Cape Canaveral and Houston, there are entire shops dedicated to t-shirts and patches and such depicting rockets and spaceships! Can you imagine such a creepy obsession? As if that’s the way to understand heaven – by trying to visit it! Very creepy, very Jonestown!
But this was a supposed to be Obama. Well, just another Illinois President if you ask me. Don’t get me started on Springfield, IL with all those creepy stores selling Lincoln memorabilia. And if you drive up the road a ways, you’ll start bumping into Ronald Reagan memorabillia for sale, in towns like Tampico, IL and Eureka, IL, and that’s just the start — Ronald Reagan keepsake sellers dot the Illinois countryside (The Reagan family moved around Illinois a lot when Ronald was young, and everyone wants to claim him as one of their own.) This interest in presidents from Illinois — it is creepy!
Why can’t people be interested in the right things?
Apparently Bob doesn’t understand the difference between adulation of a concept or a spirit of competition and unity rather than idolization of an individual.
In all seriousness, there are plenty of people who want to celebrate Obama’s presidency right at the very beginning, and not because they idolize him. Of course, some people do indeed idolize him, but in addition to those people, there are people who are treating Obama as a symbol of an idea & they are really celebrating the idea itself. For many people, Obama symbolizes an important step forward in the ongoing struggle for civil rights and the elimination of racial prejudice. There are plenty of people who thought they wouldn’t see an African-American president in their lifetimes, and why would you want to be a sourpuss if they want to celebrate (and I think the older the celebrant is, the more tolerance you might want to have). These people aren’t really idolizing Obama — they are celebrating America, and Democracy, and the fact that all men are created equal. Of course, for other people, Obama will symbolize other sentiments, and some of those sentimetns won’t be so noble such as “Obama means that Bush isn’t president anymore!”, but even in that case, people are celebrating a crass sentiment rather than an idol.
I know, I know, you think I’m full of it. But that’s ok — I think you’re full of it when you say that Green Bay Packer fans are really celebrating the spirt of competition. They aren’t. They’re a bunch of nincompoops with too much tribal aggression for their own good. Still, I suppose they are entitled to be silly in their own way, just as people who do actually idolize Obama can be silly too.
Leland, when the Palin store opens, I will buy you a hat!
“Still, I suppose they are entitled to be silly in their own way, just as people who do actually idolize Obama can be silly too.”
How gracious of you.
I note that the first person to suggest, via oblique strawman that some may feel that people are not “entitled” to express themselves is… you.
Idolization is creepy, be it of sports or politics. However politics can get quite grim when a cult of personality forms.
Hmm… strawmen, mindless bleating, selective responses, serial replying.
Jim? Or just the same tired mold?
Jack, I admire Rand, and he recently commented not being too strict about analogies (see his comment about eunuchs), but nevertheless: The comparison to Jonestown was the first oblique reference to the idea that people aren’t entitled to express themselves, seeing as Jonestown ended with plenty of murders as well as suicides. But I’m actually quite sure Rand supports freedom of expression and commerce, and so do I, so this is silly. The more interesting question, for me anyway, is whether the Obama store really is an example of the idolization of a personality, or whether the Obama store’s customers think of Obama as a symbol of ideas and events worth celebrating or something else. I myself have an “Obama” shirt that I received during the primaries, and I think of it as a momento of a really fun political campaign.
Some of these purchases are probably just for fun. My mother bequeathed me a Spiro T. Agnew stem-wind ladies wristwatch she bought and wore to tease my aunt, who detested Nixon and Agnew. It’s pretty cute; his little hands are bright red gloves with pointing index fingers like those on Mickey Mouse watches. It’s Swiss-made, keeps good time, and I like it, though I’ll probably never wear it.
Obama is America’s Princess Di.
Wait, I thought Michael Jackson was our Princess Di?
I heard that Los Angeles had to shell out big bucks for extra doodads (security, signage, traffic…) associated with the funeral of MJ. I suppose they should have applied for “stimulus” money to cover it.
After all, he’s “shovel-ready”!
BBB
For many people, Obama symbolizes an important step forward in the ongoing struggle for civil rights and the elimination of racial prejudice.
And just as obviously, Bob, for many people he symbolizes the worst of America, and his election represents the entrenchment of a racialist affirmative action regime that will continue to sort Americans by skin color long after I am dead.
A great many people are turned off by the cult of personality, which is the aspect of that store that is “creepy”. What distinguishes the cult of Obama from respect for Reagan and Lincoln is that Obama hasn’t accompiished anything. The adulation surrounding him is partly racist (did he mention he’s black?), partly a matter of style, and completely oblivious to substance. Lincoln and Reagan freed millions of people. But Obama’s reaction to the pressing crises in the world today — Iran, North Korea, Honduras — suggests he doesn’t even understand the meaning of freedom or the United States’ special role in the world.
So, go enjoy your T-shirt, and bask in the warmth of The One.
BBB
“These people aren’t really idolizing Obama — they are celebrating America, and Democracy, and the fact that all men are created equal.”
Tell that to Chris Matthews and the MSM.
Leland, when the Palin store opens, I will buy you a hat!
I don’t idolize her. Send the hat to David Letterman or Tina Fey. Or probably more appropriately Andrew Sullivan.
Sullivan already has a hat, it’s called his ass.
“These people aren’t really idolizing Obama — they are celebrating America, and Democracy, and the fact that all men are created equal.”
“But differ greatly in the sequel.” (Cf. Fisher Ames.) Yes, some people grow into adults who think that there’s nothing wrong with building a cult of personality around a living political leader because –I paraphrase here — “people do it with celebrities and dead guys.” Your Che Guevara t-shirt is in the mail.
Added — at the risk of ending the conversation — or your poster of He Who Shall Not Be Named… but his name begins with an “H” and ends in “itler.”
@ken anthony Says:
July 10th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
“When do Michelle and the kids get their own stores?”
I think you can already buy Chewbacca at the toy store.
I think you can already buy Chewbacca at the toy store.
I get it, black people are big hairy primates. Very funny. And here I’ve been assured that anti-white racism (in the form of affirmative action) was the only kind of racism left in America….
…here I’ve been assured that anti-white racism (in the form of affirmative action) was the only kind of racism left in America….
By whom? This is called a “straw man.” Unsurprising, considering the source.
Yes, it was a straw man, or at least an exageration. Can you suggest a better response to such an ugly display of racism?
Can you suggest a better response to such an ugly display of racism?
How about, “I get it, black people are big hairy primates. Very funny. That was an ugly display of racism.”
??
But I realize that wouldn’t serve your political purposes.
Let them have their fun. While Obama may be a disaster for our country, there is no denying he is indeed an iconic cultural phenomena as well for a certain segment of the population. Seeing a store devoted to Obama is only a little less surprising than seeing a church devoted to Obama.
The troubling part of this is not that the store exists, its that there are enough people wanting to buy stuff there to support the store’s existence.
The troubling part of this is not that the store exists, its that there are enough people wanting to buy stuff there to support the store’s existence.
Yes, that’s what’s creepy about it.
Does The One accept offerings of peanuts at his shrines?
It’s entirely a possible the store is a money losing proposition. After all, you really don’t think that every last dollar of the $750 billion stimulus bill has been kept track of.
Judith Warner
“Just as having a president who can string a sentence together with subject-verb agreement makes us all look a little bit smarter…”
Where’s my cluebat? Looking smarter certainly doesn’t mean acting smarter. What a tool.
Whats that line about a fool and his money…….?
Someone should remind Ms Warner that we have no evidence that “The One” could string sentences together so well were it not for his ever present verbal crutch the teleprompter.
I once worked with a woman who had one wall of her living room devoted to Princess Diana. She had enlarged photos of her in full princess regalia, dolls, plates, etc. I’m sure that today there are similar setups in homes across the USA. Obama is America’s Princess Di.
When do Michelle and the kids get their own stores?
If you drive anywhere near Notre Dame, there are a creepy number of stores where you can only buy t-shirts and other such crap celebrating one of the local football teams. Same goes for Green Bay. Etc, etc. Did you know that at certain times of the year, an enormous number of Americans people spend their Sundays to cheering for football players instead of keeping the Sabbath holy? Very creepy, very Jonestown.
Oh, and at various places around the country, including Cape Canaveral and Houston, there are entire shops dedicated to t-shirts and patches and such depicting rockets and spaceships! Can you imagine such a creepy obsession? As if that’s the way to understand heaven – by trying to visit it! Very creepy, very Jonestown!
But this was a supposed to be Obama. Well, just another Illinois President if you ask me. Don’t get me started on Springfield, IL with all those creepy stores selling Lincoln memorabilia. And if you drive up the road a ways, you’ll start bumping into Ronald Reagan memorabillia for sale, in towns like Tampico, IL and Eureka, IL, and that’s just the start — Ronald Reagan keepsake sellers dot the Illinois countryside (The Reagan family moved around Illinois a lot when Ronald was young, and everyone wants to claim him as one of their own.) This interest in presidents from Illinois — it is creepy!
Why can’t people be interested in the right things?
Apparently Bob doesn’t understand the difference between adulation of a concept or a spirit of competition and unity rather than idolization of an individual.
In all seriousness, there are plenty of people who want to celebrate Obama’s presidency right at the very beginning, and not because they idolize him. Of course, some people do indeed idolize him, but in addition to those people, there are people who are treating Obama as a symbol of an idea & they are really celebrating the idea itself. For many people, Obama symbolizes an important step forward in the ongoing struggle for civil rights and the elimination of racial prejudice. There are plenty of people who thought they wouldn’t see an African-American president in their lifetimes, and why would you want to be a sourpuss if they want to celebrate (and I think the older the celebrant is, the more tolerance you might want to have). These people aren’t really idolizing Obama — they are celebrating America, and Democracy, and the fact that all men are created equal. Of course, for other people, Obama will symbolize other sentiments, and some of those sentimetns won’t be so noble such as “Obama means that Bush isn’t president anymore!”, but even in that case, people are celebrating a crass sentiment rather than an idol.
I know, I know, you think I’m full of it. But that’s ok — I think you’re full of it when you say that Green Bay Packer fans are really celebrating the spirt of competition. They aren’t. They’re a bunch of nincompoops with too much tribal aggression for their own good. Still, I suppose they are entitled to be silly in their own way, just as people who do actually idolize Obama can be silly too.
Leland, when the Palin store opens, I will buy you a hat!
“Still, I suppose they are entitled to be silly in their own way, just as people who do actually idolize Obama can be silly too.”
How gracious of you.
I note that the first person to suggest, via oblique strawman that some may feel that people are not “entitled” to express themselves is… you.
Idolization is creepy, be it of sports or politics. However politics can get quite grim when a cult of personality forms.
Hmm… strawmen, mindless bleating, selective responses, serial replying.
Jim? Or just the same tired mold?
Jack, I admire Rand, and he recently commented not being too strict about analogies (see his comment about eunuchs), but nevertheless: The comparison to Jonestown was the first oblique reference to the idea that people aren’t entitled to express themselves, seeing as Jonestown ended with plenty of murders as well as suicides. But I’m actually quite sure Rand supports freedom of expression and commerce, and so do I, so this is silly. The more interesting question, for me anyway, is whether the Obama store really is an example of the idolization of a personality, or whether the Obama store’s customers think of Obama as a symbol of ideas and events worth celebrating or something else. I myself have an “Obama” shirt that I received during the primaries, and I think of it as a momento of a really fun political campaign.
Some of these purchases are probably just for fun. My mother bequeathed me a Spiro T. Agnew stem-wind ladies wristwatch she bought and wore to tease my aunt, who detested Nixon and Agnew. It’s pretty cute; his little hands are bright red gloves with pointing index fingers like those on Mickey Mouse watches. It’s Swiss-made, keeps good time, and I like it, though I’ll probably never wear it.
Obama is America’s Princess Di.
Wait, I thought Michael Jackson was our Princess Di?
I heard that Los Angeles had to shell out big bucks for extra doodads (security, signage, traffic…) associated with the funeral of MJ. I suppose they should have applied for “stimulus” money to cover it.
After all, he’s “shovel-ready”!
BBB
For many people, Obama symbolizes an important step forward in the ongoing struggle for civil rights and the elimination of racial prejudice.
And just as obviously, Bob, for many people he symbolizes the worst of America, and his election represents the entrenchment of a racialist affirmative action regime that will continue to sort Americans by skin color long after I am dead.
A great many people are turned off by the cult of personality, which is the aspect of that store that is “creepy”. What distinguishes the cult of Obama from respect for Reagan and Lincoln is that Obama hasn’t accompiished anything. The adulation surrounding him is partly racist (did he mention he’s black?), partly a matter of style, and completely oblivious to substance. Lincoln and Reagan freed millions of people. But Obama’s reaction to the pressing crises in the world today — Iran, North Korea, Honduras — suggests he doesn’t even understand the meaning of freedom or the United States’ special role in the world.
So, go enjoy your T-shirt, and bask in the warmth of The One.
BBB
“These people aren’t really idolizing Obama — they are celebrating America, and Democracy, and the fact that all men are created equal.”
Tell that to Chris Matthews and the MSM.
Leland, when the Palin store opens, I will buy you a hat!
I don’t idolize her. Send the hat to David Letterman or Tina Fey. Or probably more appropriately Andrew Sullivan.
Sullivan already has a hat, it’s called his ass.
“But differ greatly in the sequel.” (Cf. Fisher Ames.) Yes, some people grow into adults who think that there’s nothing wrong with building a cult of personality around a living political leader because –I paraphrase here — “people do it with celebrities and dead guys.” Your Che Guevara t-shirt is in the mail.
Added — at the risk of ending the conversation — or your poster of He Who Shall Not Be Named… but his name begins with an “H” and ends in “itler.”
@ken anthony Says:
July 10th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
“When do Michelle and the kids get their own stores?”
I think you can already buy Chewbacca at the toy store.
I think you can already buy Chewbacca at the toy store.
I get it, black people are big hairy primates. Very funny. And here I’ve been assured that anti-white racism (in the form of affirmative action) was the only kind of racism left in America….
…here I’ve been assured that anti-white racism (in the form of affirmative action) was the only kind of racism left in America….
By whom? This is called a “straw man.” Unsurprising, considering the source.
Yes, it was a straw man, or at least an exageration. Can you suggest a better response to such an ugly display of racism?
Can you suggest a better response to such an ugly display of racism?
How about, “I get it, black people are big hairy primates. Very funny. That was an ugly display of racism.”
??
But I realize that wouldn’t serve your political purposes.