Tragic: Sales of Obama Merchandise Plummet

He was everywhere. In the worst of the recession, Obama was creating jobs and spurring consumer activity -- and all it required were vendors and Web sites hawking stuff that could somehow be tangential to him and his moment in history.

But even an industry that might have seemed recession-proof apparently can't survive the doldrums that hit the president near the midterm elections.

Souvenir vendors in Washington say once-thriving sales of the garish merchandise fawning over the president are nowhere near what they were.