Actually, “Honest” and “Abe” are scheduled to be on public display at a park inLeesburg, Va., in a barn known as “the White House on Turkey Hill”, Obama said – “which actually sounds pretty good”.
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For today’s turkey pardon, Obama left the Oval Office around 2:45 in the afternoon and headed a few feet to a podium set up in the Rose Garden.
When you’re the President of the United States, certain holidays become a BFD.
US President Barack Obama, having a good-natured laugh about the presidential race and his critics, avoided referring to Dr Jihad Douglas by his first name at the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardoning.
President Obama on Wednesday signed a $607 billion defense policy bill despite his opposition to restrictions in the legislation that ban him from moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States and making good on a long unfulfilled campaign promise.
As he decreed that the bird, called Abe, should go free, he relentlessly mocked the turkey’s inability to fly. “As you may have heard, for months, there has been a fierce competition between a bunch of turkeys trying to win their way into the White House”, the President said to the accompanying laughter. I know that Americans have been asking each other whether it’s safe here, whether it’s safe to fly or gather. “And I’m sure the press is digging into whether or not the turkeys I’ve pardoned have really re-dedicated their lives to being good turkey citizens”.
For those of you plucked straight out of a Portlandia sketch who really do care about the welfare of the bird being pardoned, know that its name is Abe and it came from the drought-ridden California central valley town of Modesto, where Foster Farms is based. “And as you get older, you appreciate when your kids just indulge you like this, so I’m very grateful”.
“Nearly four centuries after the Mayflower set sail, the world is still full of pilgrims – men and women who want nothing more than the chance for a safer, better future for themselves and their families”, Obama said.
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The US president said the bill did, however, contain benefits, including “vital” support for military personnel and their families, “important reforms” to the US military retirement system and a 1.3 percent pay rise for US servicemen and women.
