Thirty minutes before Barack Obama became the president-elect of the United States, Caitlin Connolly wandered around the EMU Fishbowl, proudly clad in a duo-tone Obama T-shirt and matching political pin. The University junior was among numerous students who donned political buttons, Uncle Sam hats, tees featuring Obama’s profile and other memorabilia at the EMU Election Bash.
Connolly, along with other students, already vowed to save the collected memorabilia during this historic election year – both for sentimental purposes and functionality. Her pins would go on her backpack or purse and she would continue to wear the Obama shirt her friend bought her at a University rally last spring.
“It’s something to connect with,” Connolly said. “People are genuinely inspired just by seeing Barack’s image and will keep wearing stuff they believe in.”
Connolly said that to her, John McCain merchandise seemed significantly less iconic in Eugene than Obama’s this fall.
“I’ve literally seen one person wearing a McCain shirt. The first thing I thought was, ‘He’s wearing that on campus? Oh, my gosh!’ A lot of people dressed up as McCain and (Sarah) Palin for Halloween, but people don’t associate respect with that.”
Republican students, however, wore political T-shirts on Tuesday as well – dark blue ones with the McCain-Palin logo.
Several blocks away from the EMU election celebration, Aaron Polk, chair of the College Republicans, held an election party for his group. The walls of his abode, along with displaying memorabilia from past elections, pay homage to the local and national Republican candidates of 2008. Included in his collection is his medallion from the 2008 Republican National Convention, McCain’s “Faith of My Fathers,” two T-shirts endorsing Oregon Republicans Rick Dancer and Gordon Smith, and a “rare” Sarah Palin lawn sign with a red exclamation point following her name.
“I’m going to save these things and donate them to a museum, maybe some time in the future,” Polk said of the signs amassed in his living room. “I’ll keep wearing the T-shirts; I know Democrats will continue wearing Obama gear to express their victory.”
Polk also mentioned that students had the opportunity to recycle campaign signs, and said he was glad to see an environmentally friendly alternative to throwing them away.
According to entrepreneurs such as J.R. Morgan of Tastedeez T-shirts, political merchandise heightened in popularity during 2008 with the possibility of an African American or a woman taking office. In the past, the most popular political items have been those that feature popular, charismatic leaders such as Abraham, Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan. Political merchandise will eventually be worth money some day, based on its popularity, scarcity, age and whom it was made by.
“I feel like Obama should start his own clothing brand. Everybody comes to talk to me about him,” Morgan, 22, said. “People are cool with wearing his stuff because it’s more like, ‘He’s my brother.’ It has to do with age, it has to do with him being black. All of these people are out hustling his stuff and socializing.”
Within three hours on a drizzly Nov. 4, Morgan, who has sold Obama T-shirts and stickers for a month on campus and three months total, sold out of his last 60 shirts and had to turn away eager customers. Of his 15 T-shirt designs, the red-and-blue profile of Obama with “hope” written below was his most popular. All the T-shirts cost $15.
“Students are crazy about Obama tees,” Morgan said. “They need them.”
Morgan himself collected numerous Obama tees, rotating between them every day.
“It being Obama and me being black, I was like, ‘I have to do it.’ If I didn’t, who would I be, not selling Obama tees?”
For ideas about what to do with your political memorabilia post-election, visit the Pulse blog, Pizazz.
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