BY KEVIN FREKING
\nThe Associated Press \/ Modesto Bee<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama spared two turkeys named for one of the nation\u2019s most admired presidents, continuing a White House tradition that provides a refreshing sense of amusement and bipartisan cheer no matter how troubled the times.<\/p>\n
Obama pardoned Abe, the 2015 national Thanksgiving turkey, during a ceremony Wednesday in the Rose Garden. Abe gobbled right on cue as Obama finished his absolution.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t fret for Honest, though, the second bird who was nearby if off camera. Both turkeys, which hail from Modesto, will spend their remaining days living it up on a Virginia farm.<\/p>\n
Livingston-based Foster Farms provided the turkeys for the second time; the poultry giant first took part in the ceremony five years ago.<\/p>\n
The birds are 18 weeks old and weigh in at about 42 pounds each. The names of the turkeys were chosen from submissions entered by schoolchildren in California. Honest has a red face and neck, while Abe\u2019s crown features more extensive blue splotches.<\/p>\n
Obama referred to Abe as TOTUS, or Turkey of the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerica is, after all, a country of second chances, and this turkey has earned a second chance to live out the rest of his life comfortably on 1,000 acres of open land complete with a barn called the \u2018the White House on Turkey Hill,\u2019 which actually sounds pretty good,\u201d Obama said.<\/p>\n
George H.W. Bush was the first president to formally pardon a Thanksgiving turkey, though stories of spared turkeys date to Abraham Lincoln\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n
The National Turkey Federation is the turkey supplier for the event. The trade group and others have been providing turkeys for the first family going back to President Harry Truman, though not all the birds provided over the years shared a similar reprieve from the White House dinner table.<\/p>\n
Obama was accompanied at the event by his daughters, Malia and Sasha. They didn\u2019t look thrilled at last year\u2019s turkey pardoning, and Obama thanked them for once against standing with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do this solely because it makes me feel good, not because they actually think that this is something I should be doing,\u201d Obama said. \u201cAs you get older, you appreciate when your kids just indulge you like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event is typically filled with turkey jokes, \u201cAs you may have heard, for months there has been fierce competition between a bunch of turkeys trying to win their way into the White House,\u201d Obama said.<\/p>\n
Obama recognized that perhaps he\u2019d told one too many at one point, when he noted that Honest was in an undisclosed location, ready to serve as TOTUS, if necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, boy,\u201d Obama sighed.<\/p>\n
After the ceremony, the Obama family planned to serve a meal to homeless veterans in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
Original article:\u00a0http:\/\/www.modbee.com\/news\/article46521230.html<\/p>\n
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BY KEVIN FREKING The Associated Press \/ Modesto Bee WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama spared two turkeys named for one of the nation\u2019s most admired presidents, continuing a White House tradition that provides a refreshing sense of amusement and bipartisan … Continue reading