Blinging the change: Obamabilia sells like hotcakesWASHINGTON - January 11, 2009. From beer to ice cream, lapel pins to T-shirts, if it has anything to do with US president-elect Barack Obama, it's selling like hotcakes as people everywhere snap up souvenirs m
arking his inauguration.
arking his inauguration.'So many people want a memento of this historic time,' Ms Ann Hand, a jewelry maker in Washington who has made a collection of accessories to commemorate Mr Obama's swearing-in on Jan 20. Hand offers cufflinks featuring the red, white and blue 'O' logo of the Obama campaign, a necklace reprising Mr Obama's 'H
ope' theme, sunglasses encrusted with Swarovski crystal to spell out the name of the 44th US president, and half a dozen other jewelry items. None come cheap, but even in a slumping global economy, demand has been so strong that many of the 
accessories are on back order.
accessories are on back order.'Everything is selling better than I expected. We're doing a lot of overseas orders - Hong Kong, Norway, Sweden, Singapore, Japan, Britain. We've never had that before,' Ms Hand, who has been in business for 20 years, said.
'It's really wonderful to know that people overseas want our president's lapel pin,' she said.......
