President Obama made an amnesty joke at the annual turkey pardon today at the White House. He also, as a joke, used the same language he used to justify his executive amnesty order talked about the legal authority he had to pardon the turkey, which is traditionally done by presidents the day before Thanksgiving.
“Today, I’m taking an action fully within my legal authority — (laughter) — the same kind of action taken by Democrats and Republican presidents before me — to spare the lives of two turkeys, Mac and Cheese, from a terrible and delicious fate,” Obama said, according to a White House transcript of the event.
It is important to know that turkeys have always had powerful allies. Many of you know that Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country. He is a bird of bad moral character…the turkey is, in comparison, a much more respectable bird.” (Laughter.) I think these two turkeys would agree with Mr. Franklin. And they’ll get to live out the rest of their days, respectably, at a Virginia estate with 10,000 {sic} acres of roaming space.
I know some will call this amnesty — (laughter) — but don’t worry, there’s plenty of turkey to go around. (Laughter.) In fact, later this afternoon, Michelle, Malia and Sasha and I will take two turkeys that didn’t make the cut to a local food pantry that works hard year-round to make sure that folks in our Nation’s Capital have food to eat and clothes to wear. I want to thank Jaindl Turkey Farm in Pennsylvania for donating once again those birds for — it’s, in fact, been six years in a row that they’ve made these contributions — and for making Thanksgiving dinner possible for some of our fellow Americans.
Finally, The Washington Post recently questioned the wisdom of the whole turkey pardon tradition. “Typically on the day before Thanksgiving,” the story went, “the man who makes decisions about wars, virus outbreaks, terrorism cells and other dire matters of state, chooses to pardon a single turkey … plus an alternate.”
Tell me about it. It is a little puzzling that I do this every year. (Laughter.) But I will say that I enjoy it because with all the tough stuff that swirls around in this office, it’s nice once in a while just to say: Happy Thanksgiving. And this is a great excuse to do it.
I know some will call this amnesty — (laughter) — but don’t worry, there’s plenty of turkey to go around. (Laughter.) In fact, later this afternoon, Michelle, Malia and Sasha and I will take two turkeys that didn’t make the cut to a local food pantry that works hard year-round to make sure that folks in our Nation’s Capital have food to eat and clothes to wear. I want to thank Jaindl Turkey Farm in Pennsylvania for donating once again those birds for — it’s, in fact, been six years in a row that they’ve made these contributions — and for making Thanksgiving dinner possible for some of our fellow Americans.
Finally, The Washington Post recently questioned the wisdom of the whole turkey pardon tradition. “Typically on the day before Thanksgiving,” the story went, “the man who makes decisions about wars, virus outbreaks, terrorism cells and other dire matters of state, chooses to pardon a single turkey … plus an alternate.”
Tell me about it. It is a little puzzling that I do this every year. (Laughter.) But I will say that I enjoy it because with all the tough stuff that swirls around in this office, it’s nice once in a while just to say: Happy Thanksgiving. And this is a great excuse to do it.
