On Wednesday afternoon, President Obama pardoned a Thanksgivingturkey for his last time as president. During the light-hearted ceremony in the White House's Rose Garden, Obama dropped a "cornucopia of dad jokes."
Before today's ceremony, the White House asked Twitter users to choose which turkey Obama should pardon. The two male turkeys, named Tater and Tot, were raised in Iowa and both weighed around 40 pounds. Tot was chosen as the official turkey to be pardoned by Obama, but both turkeys were spared in the end.
Because his daughters had scheduling conflicts, Obama was joined by his two young nephews, "who unlike Malia and Sasha, have not yet been turned cynical by Washington," the president joked.
Obama continued, "Malia and Sasha, by the way, are thankful this is my final presidential turkey pardon, but what I haven't told them is that we are going to do this every year from now on." Then he dropped the punchline: "No way I'm cutting this habit cold turkey."
Noting that the election is over and Thanksgiving is upon us, Obama said that now we should turn "from polls to poultry."
His dad jokes didn't stop there:
His dad jokes apparently even made one kid cry:
Then, he finally pardoned Tot:
After Obama pardoned Tot, the turkey went crazy:
Of course, many used the occasion to wonder about next year's turkey pardon under Trump:
It wasn't all jokes though, Obama also got serious and said, "We have a lot more in common than divides us."
Obama also said, "I want to express my sincere gratitude to the American people for the trust that you've placed in me over all these years and the incredible kindness you've shown my family."
