(via Hattie at Comment Central)

I recently stated that this is my favourite piece of Obama merchandise.

I’m afraid I’m going to have to retract that statement, because I’ve just become aware of a greater achievement in this field.

Chia Obama (chia is apparently American for cress)

Here’s the advert:

And finally I must just quote this from Hattie’s post, because I think it’s great:

Ways in which Mr Cress Head and Mr Obama are similar:

Once universally adored, recently falling out of fashion.

Ways in which Mr Cress Head and Mr Obama are dissimilar:

Obama has legs. And a body. And (as far and we know) inedible hair.

His hair isn’t green, either.

This morning on Radio 4’s Today programme, they had a brief feature on the boardgame ‘Pank-A-Squith’, which went on sale in 1909 and is once more on sale today at Bonhams auctioneers in Knightsbridge.

The game itself is basically an enhanced version of snakes and ladders, but the winner is the first to reach universal suffrage, rather than just the top of the ladder. On the way, you get to chain yourself to Asquith’s railings, throw yourself in front of a horse and these other things from the official lot description:

Square 6 shows a suffragette breaking the windows of the Home Office, Square 16 has a notice: “Any player landing on this space must send a penny to Suffragette Funds”, Square 18 depicts Bow Street magistrate’s court, Square 32 represents Holloway Prison, and Square 43 to the forced feeding of Hunger Strikers.

The game was created to raise funds for the Suffragette movement, and is an early, if not the earliest, example of political fundraising through merchandise. Take a look at the board for yourself:

Compare this with the ubiquity of Obama merchandise: there are thousands of examples of this kind of thing all over the web. It serves its purpose, and some of the images are really funny. My favourite that I’ve come across is this:

It’s funny, but I think I prefer the boardgame, but it does seem that hilarious puns (pank-a-squith/yes we can opener) never get old.

Tom Ridge, Bush’s secretary for Homeland Security and former Governor of Pennsylvania, currently promoting his book in New York, admitted to the New York Post that he and his aides made sure not to select his ties in colours that could be linked to the colour-coded threat level.

He said that “all I wanted was to make sure I didn’t wear an orange or red one.” This has set me thinking about the role of the tie in politics. This extremely perceptive analysis on the subject from the Belfast Newletter points out that politicians, if not voters, seem to think that the colour of a tie makes some kind of statement. And this is the case – as a man in a suit, the one opportunity for the overt display of one’s preferences comes in the choice of tie. Do you, predictably, go for the colour associated with your party? Or, less predictably, with the colour of your opponent’s party? Or with a neutral shade? Or with a daring ‘comedy’ offering? On a slow news day, this kind of thing is all we’ll read about. But is anyone going to associate the colour of a tie with a potentially elevated threat level? Yes. Journalists are.

Of course, this is a dilemma only faced by male politicians. Women (see the reaction to Margaret Thatcher, Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin for examples) are judged on all aspects of their apparel, not just what they choose to knot around their necks. We know that image is everything, so why not make it easy for the journos to interpret and wear something like this:

No one could be in any doubt as to where you stand. It’s now my dearest wish to see Newt Gingrich in one of these.

Incidentally, this came from a site called ‘tackyobamastuff.com‘. If you want to buy a pair of Obama briefs, or some Obama-head Russian dolls, this is place.

Take a look at the ‘most read’ articles at TimesOnline (it’s the white box over on the right of the page).

Topping the list is this article, about the identity of ‘The Stig’ from Top Gear.

Below that, is this – surely the most important and interesting thing happening right now in the world?

And yet, there are more people (or Times-readers, rather – there’s a difference) who want to read about Top Gear than the Inauguration.

Baffling. But it does provide a new perspective…

UPDATE: Now Michelle Obama’s dress is the most important thing to Times-readers. That’s more like it.

The internet is alive with speculation as to what Michelle Obama will wear for her husband’s inauguration.

For me, the most interesting ramification of this obsession has been the number of beautiful sketches it has spawned from the world’s top fashion designers. It would seem that the Obamas are inspirational far beyond the political realm…

I mean, who cares what kind of president he is as long as they always look this suave?

My favourite for Barack has to be this one:

And I hope Michelle goes for something like this:

Click on the images to see more sketches

Photo: Callie Shell for Time

Barack and Michelle Obama eating breakfast in a diner in Pittsburgh on the morning of the Pennsylvania primary.

I find this picture very funny, and also very scary.

It’s funny to imagine the other customers in that diner on that morning — did they try to carry on eating as if they are accustomed to look over their morning paper to find the world’s media tucking into the bacon, or did they openly reveal their excitement that a piece of political history was eating pancakes just a few feet away? Or perhaps they were too busy trying to conceal their intense annoyance that the cameras weren’t pointed at them. Secretly, I think we’re all just a little bit jealous of Obama.

It’s terrifying to try and think yourself into his place: every moment of the next four (or eight, hopefully) years will be like this. Instead of faces around him, there will be the unforgiving glint of a thousand lenses.

Only 7 days to go.