February 17th, 2009
Few things have shaken my admittedly weak faith in my countrymen more than this advertisement (see below).
Commemorative political memorabilia is nothing new. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a set of James Buchanan plates in a flea market some day. But this was just one more piece of evidence that President Barack Obama is the most crassly commercialized political celebrity since the mediocre diarist Che Guevara. The last time I was at Wal-mart, two men were standing outside selling coat racks full of nothing but Obama clothing. They even had Obama-themed women’s leggings.
What stands out about the ad is that it’s clearly not offering the coin enthusiast’s equivalent of Honus Wagner tobacco cards. Firstly, the commercial plainly states that they’re selling ”four official U.S minted coins” layered in 24-carat Gold, and then colorized (which makes them numismatically worthless). Secondly, I’m no coin collector, but the part where the narrator says, “the Obama-John F. Kennedy half dollar coin,” sets off all kinds of red flags. Thirdly, 20 seconds in, the commercial shows four coins being superimposed with full color images of the new President!
The Home Shopping Network is hawking the glorified change as well. Here they plainly state that they’re selling “colorized” half-dollars, quarters, and golden dollars.
Why is this relevant?
Hat tip: Hot Air
I almost feel bad that shady vendors are taking advantage of Barack Obama’s overly excited fans by selling them cheap merchandise that isn’t nearly as nice as it looked on the commercial.
Almost. The buyers (one of whom saw this commercial with Montel Williams, which also communicates in no uncertain terms that these are George Washington dollars and JFK half-dollars with Obama added on) bear most of the responsibility here. Apart from not having the common sense to refrain from purchasing several copies of a unique collector’s item until seeing at least one, the United States Mint issued an advisory about Obama coins last December, which the owner would have come across in a simple Google search. Also, the joyless souls at NPR were on this story as early as January. Don’t these people have internet? They scammed themselves.
There are no innocents in this conflict. The vendors are taking advantage of the weak-minded, the buyers are allowing their emotions to get the best of them, and even Montel Williams betrayed his fan’s trust by proclaiming how proud he is of such shoddy merchandise. This is Obama’s America, and it’s ending one minute at a time.
Cross-posted at Modern Conservative