{"id":28458,"date":"2016-11-23T19:43:38","date_gmt":"2016-11-24T03:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=28458"},"modified":"2016-11-23T19:43:38","modified_gmt":"2016-11-24T03:43:38","slug":"remarks-by-the-president-at-pardoning-of-the-national-thanksgiving-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=28458","title":{"rendered":"Remarks By The President At Pardoning Of The National Thanksgiving Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much, everybody.  Please have a seat.  Have a seat.For generations, Presidents have faithfully executed two great American traditions:  issuing a proclamation that sets aside a Thursday in November for us to express gratitude, and granting pardons that reflect our beliefs in second chances.  And this week, we do both. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/turkey-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/turkey-1.jpg\" alt=\"turkey\" width=\"640\" height=\"361\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-28459\" srcset=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/turkey-1.jpg 640w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/turkey-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/turkey-1-123x70.jpg 123w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/turkey-1-570x322.jpg 570w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xzzNdZ28Kjk\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Of course, Thanksgiving is a family holiday as much as a national one.  So for the past seven years, I\u2019ve established another tradition:  embarrassing my daughters with a \u201ccorny-copia\u201d of dad jokes about turkeys. This year, they had a scheduling conflict. Actually, they just couldn\u2019t take my jokes anymore. They were fed up. <\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, I have by my side here today two of my nephews &#8212; Austin and Aaron Robinson &#8212; who, unlike Malia and Sasha, have not yet been turned cynical by Washington. They still believe in bad puns.  They still appreciate the grandeur of this occasion.  They still have hope. <\/p>\n<p>Malia and Sasha, by the way, are thankful that this is my final presidential turkey pardon.  What I haven\u2019t told them yet is that we are going to do this every year from now on.  No cameras.  Just us.  Every year.  No way I\u2019m cutting this habit cold turkey.<br \/>\nGood one.  That was pretty funny.  <\/p>\n<p>Thanksgiving is a chance to gather with loved ones, reflect on our many blessings, and, after a long campaign season, finally turn our attention from polls to poultry.  This year, we\u2019re honored to be joined by two of the lucky ones, who were raised by the Domino family in Iowa:  Tater and Tot.  <\/p>\n<p>Now, Tater is here in a backup role, just in case Tot can\u2019t fulfill his duties.  So he\u2019s sort of like the Vice Turkey.  We\u2019re working on getting him a pair of aviator glasses. <\/p>\n<p>And it is my great privilege &#8212; well, it\u2019s my privilege &#8211;actually, let\u2019s just say it\u2019s my job to grant them clemency this afternoon.  As I do, I want to take a moment to recognize the brave turkeys who weren\u2019t so lucky, who didn\u2019t get to ride the gravy train to freedom  who met their fate with courage and sacrifice &#8212; and proved that they weren\u2019t chicken. <\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Oh, it\u2019s not that bad.  Now, come one.  <\/p>\n<p>Of course, we have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  Six straight years of job creation &#8212; the longest streak ever.  Low unemployment.  Wages are rising again.  Inequality is narrowing.  The housing market is healing.  The stock market has nearly tripled.  Our high school graduation rate is at an all-time high.  And our uninsured rate is at an all-time low, thanks to the 20 million more Americans, including millions of children, who finally know the security of health insurance. That&#8217;s worth gobbling about.  <\/p>\n<p>Proud families across the country are finally complete now that marriage equality is the law of the land.  And there are many families of service members who had empty chairs at the table in recent years but who on this Thanksgiving can celebrate with our brave troops and veterans who we\u2019ve welcomed home.  <\/p>\n<p>Thanksgiving is also a reminder of the source of our national strength &#8212; that out of many, we are one; that we\u2019re bound not by any one race or religion, but rather by an adherence to a common creed, that all of us are created equal.  And while accepting our differences and building a diverse society has never been easy, it has never been more important.  We are a people that look out for one another and get each other\u2019s backs. We keep moving forward, defined by values and ideals that have been a light to all humanity.  <\/p>\n<p>We have to see ourselves in each other because we&#8217;ve all got families we love, and we all have hopes for their better future. And we lose sight of that sometimes, and Thanksgiving is a good time for us to remember that.  We have a lot more in common than divides us.<\/p>\n<p>The holidays are also a time when it\u2019s even more important to reach out to those who need a helping hand.  I believe we\u2019re judged by how we care for the poor and the vulnerable, the sick and the elderly, the immigrant, the refugee, everybody who\u2019s trying to get a second chance.  I believe that in order to truly live up to those ideals we have to continually fight discrimination in all its forms and always show the world that America is a generous and giving country.  <\/p>\n<p>We should also make sure everyone has something to eat on Thanksgiving &#8212; of course, except the turkeys, because they\u2019re already stuffed.  <\/p>\n<p>So, later today, the Obama family will participate in our traditional Thanksgiving service project.  And when somebody at your table tells you that you\u2019ve been hogging all the side dishes and you can\u2019t have any more, I hope you respond with a creed that sums up the spirit of a hungry people:  Yes, We Cran. That was good. You don\u2019t think that\u2019s funny?  Look, I know there are some bad ones in here, but this is the last time I\u2019m doing this, so we\u2019re not leaving any room for leftovers. <\/p>\n<p>Let me just say &#8212; how am I doing?  Good?  Thumbs up?  <\/p>\n<p>Let me just say one last thing before I spare these turkeys\u2019 lives.  On this Thanksgiving, I want to express my sincere gratitude to the American people for the trust that you\u2019ve placed in me over these last eight years and the incredible kindness that you\u2019ve shown my family.  On behalf of Michelle, and my mother-in-law, and our girls, we want to thank you so very, very much.<\/p>\n<p>And now, from the Rose Garden, Tater and Tot will go to their new home at Virginia Tech &#8212; which is admittedly a bit Hokie. They\u2019ll get to live out their natural lives at a new facility called Gobblers Rest, where students and veterinarians will care for them.  And so let\u2019s get on with the pardoning because it\u2019s Wednesday afternoon and everyone knows that Thanksgiving traffic can put people in a \u201cfowl\u201d mood.<\/p>\n<p>Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.  Let\u2019s go pardon these turkeys.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much, everybody. Please have a seat. Have a seat.For generations, Presidents have faithfully executed two great American traditions: issuing a proclamation that sets aside a Thursday in November for us to express gratitude, and granting pardons that reflect our beliefs in second chances. And this week, we do both. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1599,"featured_media":28459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,17,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-national-news","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/turkey-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1599"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}