Amid pandemic media bloodletting and global financial meltdown, it's nice to finally find a silver lining: All those silly Barack Obama trinkets are making insane amounts of money for media companies and providing precious little stimulus to the economy. The Times estimated roughly $200 million sold so far, including more than $15 million in commemorative issues and books from People and Time, somewhere around $1.5 million for the online store set up by the New york Times Company and $700,000 for the Los Angeles Times. Commemorative plates and coins, meanwhile have become ubiquitous enough that Lewis Black ranted about them on the Daily Show (clip after the jump). The downside?

Iconizing Obama is likely to harden some opposing voters against him, feeding the perception his supporters are blind cult worshippers and, perhaps, that the token-hawking media are complicit. But then someone will remember it's possible to create "Obama the secret muslim" dolls or somesuch, and actually do it, and we'll all finally rejoice that capitalism is working like it's supposed to again.