“Nearly everyone is getting used to seeing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s official message on TV. But some people are seeing him on unofficial wares. Obama’s face is emblazoned on thousands of graphic T-shirts sold online, on street corners and in chain stores. For some, the icon is all about Obama’s message, for others it’s simply a hip fashion statement.”

The excerpt above is from a Chicago Public Radio story about Obama’s transition from political candidate to pop culture icon, with his likeness appearing on everything from t-shirts to trinkets.

The wildfire spread of unofficial goods can partly be attributed to the popularity of Obama’s message, but not entirely; we’ve had popular candidates before.

What we haven’t had before, though, is a candidate with such a strong brand right out of the gate. Obama’s camp is also the first to completely grasp the potential of the internet as a vehicle for campaigning and have done a better job harnessing it’s viral and social natures than any of it’s competitors.

The result? Well, enough shirts for us to do a round-up of awesome Obama tees (in no particular order, of course):

1. Obey Obama Progress Tee

From the OBEY Giant folks, this tee is imprinted with Shepard Fairey’s “Progress” design. $28.00 BUY NOW Also available for women.

2. Barak Obama is my Homeboy

These guys are the self-proclaimed “largest online grassroots campaign supporting Barack Obama”. They certainly have one of the most popular tees out there. You can buy it, and others, from their site, as well as setup your own blog to talk about the presidential race. $18.45 BUY NOW

3. The Obama-Bama Tee

Originally just for kids (because really, what’s cuter than kids with a political opinion?), lowercase tee now offers these for grown-ups too. $17.00 BUY NOW

4. Audacity To Hope

Looks like shirts from apb have been selling out… they’re the most urban designs we’ve found and clearly popular. This design, and the other designs they have available, are still available in a few sizes. $24.99 BUY NOW

5. Captain Obama

This is probably our favorite of the all the tees we found while doing research for this article. Designed by AJ Dimarucot for Thriving Ink, it’s just one of the different shirts created for their Hope is Dope line of shirts. Part of the proceeds for sales of the shirts will go to charity. $21.95 BUY NOW

So there you have it, our wrap-up of our favorite obama shirts out there right now.

This post was so popular, we had to do a second one! Check out Part 2 for 5 more really great tees.