by ian kullgren 11/23/16 03:53 pm est updated 11/23/16 04:34 pm est president barack obama seemed to take a veiled shot at president-elect donald trump and his alt-right supporters wednesday at the annual white house turkey pardoning, telling attendees in the rose garden to remember that diversity is one of the america<u+2019>s greatest strengths. <u+201c>thanksgiving is also a reminder of the source of our national strength, that out of many we are one, and we<u+2019>re not bound by any one race or religion but rather by an adherence to a common creed that all of us are created equal,<u+201d> obama told attendees assembled in the rose garden. story continued below <u+201c>and while accepting our differences and building a diverse society has never been easy, it has never been more important. we are people that look out for one another and get each other<u+2019>s backs. we keep moving forward defined by values and ideals that have been a light to all humanity.<u+201d> obama<u+2019>s remarks were a somber moment in an otherwise lighthearted speech, where he chided his daughters, sasha and malia, for not attending his last turkey pardoning. his young nephews <u+2014> austin robinson and aaron robinson <u+2014> filled in for the first daughters. presidents ronald reagan, george w. bush, bill clinton and barack obama do the annual turkey pardon. 11/23/16 02:29 pm est <u+201c>thanksgiving is a family holiday as much as a national one, so for the past seven years, i<u+2019>ve established another tradition <u+2014> embarrassing my daughters with a corny-copia of dad jokes about turkeys,<u+201d> obama said. <u+201c>this year, they had a scheduling conflict. actually they just couldn<u+2019>t take my jokes anymore. they were fed up.<u+201d> the show went on, with obama rattling off a string of bad puns. <u+201c>malia and sasha, by the way, are thankful that this is my final presidential turkey pardon,<u+201d> obama said. <u+201c>what i haven<u+2019>t told them yet is that we are gonna do this every year from now on. no cameras, just us every year. no way i<u+2019>m cutting this habit cold turkey.<u+201d> the presidential turkey pardoning reportedly dates back to john f. kennedy, though it was george h.w. bush who made it a white house tradition. the national turkey federation has presented the president with a turkey every year since 1947, though they weren<u+2019>t always spared. this year obama got two turkeys: tater, and his understudy, tot. they<u+2019>ll live out their days at <u+201c>gobbler<u+2019>s rest" at virginia tech. by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz by jack shafer
obama appears to take shot at trump during turkey pardon - politico
ian kullgren jack shafer