President-elect Barack Obama has the Midas touch, as shoppers ahead of the
inauguration are snatching anything with his name or image.

WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (JANUARY 8, 2009) REUTERS -
The cataclysmic decline in retail nationwide isn't affecting Obama
merchandise sales. This year, political souvenir and memorabilia shops say
President-elect Barack Obama has the Midas touch, bringing in a small fortune
in sales on anything bearing his image.

To reap those profits, Jim Warlick, owner of Washington's
"Political Americana," is stocking his shelves with a half-million
buttons, thousands of t-shirts, and anything bearing Obama's likeness.
"His image, it's almost like the pope. Anything with his image
is a big seller," Warlick said.

Obama merchandisers are even selling calendars in abundance for the
first time in nearly forty years. Not since Kennedy have Americans been
willing to give a president 12 months of calendar wall space. Vendors say
it's a real show of confidence and may be a predictor of an extended honeymoon
period for the incoming president.

Souvenir sellers say one of the reasons customers are buying more
merchandise this inauguration, is because they know they're buying a piece of
history as it's happening. As the nation inaugurates its first
African-American president, many people are buying things in hopes of selling
them later for a profit or handing them down to their grandchildren.

The Obama mania hasn't stopped at American shores. Warlick says 25
percent of his business comes from overseas customers. In fact, the
enthusiasm for Obama merchandise is so great, it's prompted him to open his
first stores in London and Berlin.

"People are really waiting for somebody to come in and give us
the right answer and it's way beyond America's borders," Warlick
said.

"Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Poland, Russia, people from
England have been here and they tell me that they're buying bags of stuff
because everybody back at home said you better not come home without some
Obama merchandise," he added.

Thirteen-year-old Rachel Mataira said she bought mugs and other small
mementos for friends in Auckland.

"All my friends and some of my family asked me to bring things
back because they knew I was coming here," Mataira said.

Online auction house E-Bay says Obama merchandise was the seventh
favorite pop-culture obsession of 2008. More than 111-thousand Obama posters,
coins and action figures were traded on the site last year.

The Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority, or Metro, is also in
the Obama souvenir trade. Metro is issuing 5 million train farecards with
Obama's likeness in honor of the inauguration.