President Barack Obama spared two turkeys named for one of the nation's most admired presidents, continuing a White House tradition that provides a refreshing sense of amusement and bipartisan cheer no matter how troubled the times.
"America 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 'the White House on Turkey Hill,' which actually sounds pretty good," Obama said.
George H.W. Bush was the first president to formally pardon a Thanksgiving turkey, though stories of spared turkeys date back to Abraham Lincoln's presidency.
The event is typically filled with turkey jokes, "As you may have heard, for months there're has been fierce competition between a bunch of turkeys trying to win their way into the White House," Obama said.