Getting your special loved one a Chia Pet Obama for the upcoming holiday season just got a lot harder, because a second national retailer has pulled the item off of its shelves, AOL Black Voices has learned.

Rhode Island-based CVS is following in the footsteps of Walgreens, which pulled the Chia Obama, a little bust of Obama that grows a green-plant Afro when properly maintained, earlier this year after it expressed concern that people would be offended or "interpret it through a political viewpoint or other viewpoints."

CVS spokesperson Michael J. DeAngelis declined to say why the company pulled the product from stores.

"We did sell them for a short time in a few markets, but they are no longer available in our stores," DeAngelis said in response to questions from AOL Black Voices. "It was a test, and we decided not to move forward with the product. Beyond that, we have no additional comment."

Chia Pet head Joseph Pedott said he doesn't know why the Chia Obama was pulled and is disappointed because the response to the product has been good. The 77-year-old Pedott says he is a Republican who felt inspired by Obama and decided to vote for the nation's first African American president.

"It's fun, but I wanted to make a statement," Pedott told AOL Black Voices of why he created the Chia Obama. "This is to say we can do it. We can get out of this recession we're in. It's not politics, it's to give hope."Even Obama got a good laugh out of his likeness. Pedott met the president at the White House in June and handed him a Chia Obama. The White House released photos of the event.

Obama "smiled and said, 'I've got green hair' and everybody laughed," said Pedott. "If I had any inkling that this would be of any offense to the president, I would not have done it."

Maybe CVS received some complaints and decided to take the product off the shelves. My take on this whole flap is that it doesn't pay to be hypersensitive. They've poked fun of every president since Gerald Ford on 'Saturday Night Live,' although their take on Obama isn't funny.

Just because Obama is African American doesn't mean he should be immune to a little ribbing. In fact, to treat him differently would be wrong. As I said earlier, I'm more concerned about the real threats that Obama faces: The non-sensical rhetoric about death panels, whether he was born in this country and talk comparing him to Hitler or Osama Bin Laden. That is the kind of talk that can lead to violence.

The discussion about race in this country is flawed. Symbolic gestures are taken over real progress. It's like in the movies where there are no black characters, and they throw in a black judge or another person of color in a position of authority. That doesn't change the fact that one of the main characters could have been of color.

Instead of worrying about a Chia Obama, we should address why it has taken so long for this country to elect a black president and why he has to sometimes act as if race doesn't exist.

Pedott said a chain in the Northwest and Alaska is carrying the Chia Obama, and it is also available online. That's where you'll have to get your holiday Chia Obama. I prefer the determined-looking Obama, although that green Afro is a little creepy. I guess Chia doesn't do dark Caesers.