THE statues of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Gandhi stand tall at Union Square Park in Manhattan.
Lately, however, the attention there is all on the next resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC.
Obama calendars, Obama posters, Obama watches, Obama hand-painted T-shirts, Obama buttons; America’s next top gun is available on merchandise for anyone seeking a piece of him.
CNN was at the park on Wednesday, interviewing souvenir hunters.
Election editions of Time and Newsweek have been sold out in major markets here.
After almost two years of courting history, Americans are now living it.
Campaign workers are getting a good night’s sleep now that the deed is done. These loyalists had often worked long hours. One Democrat volunteer had been standing at the Chelsea neighbourhood from 10am until late in the evening a fortnight ago soliciting support; his hands stiff from the autumn chill.
But it has not been entirely easy to close the chapter on a long and winding campaign for the White House. For election watchers, their days felt empty without the usual anticipation of passion and drama brought on by the Democrat versus Republican battle.
There are no more polls to check, no blogs to follow, no gossip to pass on. “What now?” they sighed. The 24-hour news cycle had given people a great diversion.
Nobody had dull days when the extraordinary campaign was going on. One woman reportedly forgot to fetch her son from school because she was too caught up with election news.
Jefferson A. Singer, a psychology professor in Connecticut College, has his own favourite story to tell.
“A close friend of mine approached me and said ‘I have a problem’. Knowing my background in treating substance abuse, it seemed like an important moment of disclosure.”
Instead, his friend made a different kind of confession. “I am a political junkie,” he told Prof Singer. He went on to talk about the blogs and websites that he scrolled, as cable news programmes ran incessantly in the background.
The political junkie was guilty of neglecting his work, telling his wife that he was grading papers when, in fact, he was reading political blogs.
“I am hoping that his ‘withdrawal’ will not be too severe, or he can found a Political Junkies Anonymous chapter,” Prof Singer quipped. “Of course, this is tongue-in-cheek."
“But he was spending inordinate amounts of time and energy following every twist and turn of the campaign.”
Prof Singer has sound advice for political junkies wanting to mend their lives.
“The healthiest thing they can do post-election is to refocus their energy on normal everyday activities." Take some of the time devoted to following the news and put it into becoming part of the societal and global change that is about to begin. “Become an activist rather than an addict,” he said.
New York magazine in its latest issue suggested ways to “detox” for those going through post-election withdrawal.The article identified five types of electoral junkies, among these the dataheads, scandal junkies and Palin haters.
Leila Luna, a Brazilian writer based in Gotham, has been waiting to exhale. She is one of those who are glad that campaign days are over, as it means that she will hear less of Sarah Palin. “I just can’t stand her yapping away,” she said.
Unfortunately for Luna, the Alaska Governor has frequently been seen on TV daily the past few days. Like her or loathe her, Palin seems to stir Americans out there. Cable and broadcast networks such as CNN, Fox News and NBC interviewed her from her Wasilla kitchen last week.
Post-election, however, is not an entirely dreaded time.
Happy parents from Kenya to the United States have reportedly named their newborn after the president-elect, hoping that some Obama traits and magic would rub off on them.
Some parents even dreamed that their baby Barack would grow up to a commander-in-chief.
Other reportedly favoured names are plucked from the rest of America’s newest First Family – Michelle, Malia and Sasha.
The Secret Service has different names for them, though. Obama is Renegade, mum is Renaissance and the girls are Radiance and Rosebud.
For some ordinary folk, they wonder why anyone would desire a career in Washington, as the Oval Office is arguably the toughest top job in the world.
“To run for president, you’ve got to have an ego the size of the Empire State Building,” a Phoenix resident said.
The United States’ 44th president, whose Wikipedia page is available in 116 languages, will take office on Jan 20. AP has reported that most hotel rooms in the US capital have already been booked by now.
“Obama is the new black” and it is a dream fulfilled, as messages on T-shirt say.
