Obama’s First Pardon: A Turkey Named ‘Courage,’ Calls it a ‘Sucker’

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obama-turkeyAfter 10 months in office, President Barack Obama granted his first pardon today to “Courage,” a 45-pound turkey spared from the Thanksgiving table.

Accompanied by daughters Sasha and Malia, Obama stood under the North Portico of the White House to honor a holiday tradition that dates to 1947 — receiving a bird from the National Turkey Federation.

“I’m told Presidents Eisenhower and Johnson actually ate their turkeys,” Obama said. “You can’t fault them for that; that’s a good-looking bird.”

President George H.W. Bush was the first to officially pardon a turkey.

Obama joked about wanting to forgo the tradition and eat “Courage.”

“Thanks to the interventions of Malia and Sasha — because I was planning to eat this sucker — ‘Courage’ will also be spared this terrible and delicious fate,” he said.

Obama said he wished all American service members at home and abroad a happy Thanksgiving, saying it is a “tremendous honor it is to serve as commander in chief of the finest military in the world.”

He also spoke about the first family’s plans for the holiday dinner.

“Just like millions of other families across America, we’ll take time to give our thanks for many blessings,” Obama said. “We’ll also remember this is a time when so many members of our American family are hurting.”

Obama noted that President Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a holiday in the midst of the Civil War, “when the future of our very union was most in doubt.”

“This is an era of new perils and new hardships,” he added. “So on this quintessentially American holiday, as we give thanks for what we’ve got, let’s also give back to those who are less fortunate.”

After his remarks, the turkey was lifted to a table and Obama raised his hand over its head to deliver a mock-serious pardon.

“You are hereby pardoned,” he said.

Obama said “Courage” will get to spend the rest of his life in “peace and tranquility” at Disneyland.

{Washington Whispers/Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}


7 COMMENTS

  1. ill never forget when ronald reagan did his phot op with the live turkey in the pre pardon days: “i think this will make a fine thanksgiving dinner!”

  2. President Obama has a lot to learn about enimals…it is understandable, based on the culture in which he grew up. He should not have called this lucky turkey, whose liofe he was sparing, a “sucker”, even in jest. This was no great example set for his two daughters.
    More emphasis and information about the horrors of turkey factory farms should have been given to the president prior to the offical pardoning ceremony.

  3. What a shame that groups like PETA, HSUS or Farm Sanctuary didn’t prepare the president just a little bit with facts about the horrendous wholesale turkey abuses before he presided over the pardoning ceremony of the turkey who got to live this Thanksgiving.

    This best sums it up:
    “Not until we extend the circle of our compassion to all living things, shall we
    ourselves know peace.” – Albert Schweitzer

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