Go Green for Obama?

January 15, 2009 8:08 AM

Does anyone know what those green lapel pins are that about a third of Obama's staffers seem to be wearing in the photos here? (via)
posted by limeonaire to law & government (14 comments total)

Here's a direct link to one of the pins.
posted by nitsuj at 8:16 AM on January 15

I believe those are a President-Elect Officer Pin.
posted by Fleebnork at 8:21 AM on January 15

I mean, that's my guess. I could be entirely wrong.
posted by Fleebnork at 8:24 AM on January 15

I don't think so, Fleebnork. The pins they're wearing are all green with a small circle of gold inside. The President-Elect pin only has a tiny bit of green on it. I'm not having any luck figuring out what they are, though.
posted by cooker girl at 8:32 AM on January 15

Could be a color-coded security pin.
posted by JoanArkham at 8:57 AM on January 15

Thanks, nitsuj, for linking directly to a photo!
posted by limeonaire at 9:06 AM on January 15

This Flickr photo says it's a CIA pin. (Check the hovering note.)
posted by nitsuj at 9:18 AM on January 15

They also aren't all the same color combinations. Hilda Solis and James Clyburn are both wearing red with white/pale markings, while others are wearing green with gold and even green with red (though that may be a function of the different light in each shot). I'm officially curious. Thanks for the slideshow. Educational and pretty!
posted by greekphilosophy at 9:23 AM on January 15

I think they're actually lapel pins distributed by the Secret Service, not the CIA, with the color varying on how the they want to identify you. For example, this guy is wearing a red and white one.
posted by zsazsa at 9:28 AM on January 15

And if you look at the full size version of zsazsa's link, that pin says "R-5" on it.
posted by niles at 9:57 AM on January 15

Another one
posted by smackfu at 9:58 AM on January 15

There most likely Secret Service lapel pins used for security. The Secret Service spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on lapel pins.
posted by Jahaza at 9:59 AM on January 15

zsazsa: I have a feeling that the red and white one is an Obama pin that you can pick up from any of the crapmerchants that have sprung up around the inagualypse that will be Washington DC next week. Greek Philosophy: the red ones are the Member's pins from the U.S. House of Representatives, that being the pin from the 110th Congress. There'll be a new design for the 111th. I'm not sure what the green one is, but the President-Elect one isn't a bad guess...
posted by indiebass at 10:12 AM on January 15

indiebass: That's what I thought zsazsa's image was too, but check out the big version. It's not the Obama logo at all, and the pin is actually sideways.
posted by niles at 10:16 AM on January 15