Nearly a year into clemency initiative, turkeys remain more likely to get Prez Obama pardon than people
President Barack Obama has issued an executive action that some of his Republican opponents may be hard-pressed to disagree with — sparing Thanksgiving turkeys from the dinner table.
In the spirit of the holiday, Obama on Wednesday took “action fully within my legal authority, the same kind of action taken by Democrats and Republican presidents before me,” to pardon the National Thanksgiving Turkey, a 49-pound bird named Cheese. He also spared an alternate turkey, a 47-pounder named Mac. Both came from Cooper Farms in Oakwood, Ohio.
“If you’re a turkey, and you’re named after a side dish, your chances of escaping Thanksgiving dinner are pretty low,” Obama said at the annual event, which drew international media coverage. He was accompanied by his daughters, Malia and Sasha, who declined his invitation to pet the birds. “No,” Malia said….
“So these guys are well ahead of the curve. They really beat the odds,” he said of Mac and Cheese. Obama last week announced a series of highly anticipated executive actions immigration that have left Republicans crying “fowl.”
Joking about his poultry action, Obama said: “I know some will call this amnesty. But don’t worry. There’s plenty of turkey to go around.” Later Wednesday, Obama took his family to a neighborhood food pantry to donate a pair of turkeys “that didn’t make the cut.”…
At the pardoning ceremony, Obama referenced news reports that questioned the wisdom of the turkey pardon tradition and said “it is a little puzzling that I do this every year.” But Obama said he enjoys the tradition because “with all the tough stuff that swirls around in this office, it’s nice once in a while just to say ‘Happy Thanksgiving,’ and this is a great excuse to do it.”
Presidents as far back as Abraham Lincoln spared turkeys, according to the White House. President George H.W. Bush granted the first turkey pardon in November 1989.
At the risk of being a holiday party pooper, I cannot help but note that it has now been a full 10 months since the Obama Administration publicly announced (as detailed here) that it was eager to identify low-level, nonviolent drug offenders for possible clemency relief. Since that time, however, the President has granted clemency to a grand total of one prisoner and now to two turkeys. Thus, as I have said often in the past and will continue to say unless things change dramatically, President Obama’s clemency record to date to be not merely disappointing, but truly disgraceful.
A few of many recent and older posts concerning federal clemency practices:
- “White House Seeks Drug Clemency Candidates” … like Weldon Angelos and Chris Williams?
- Justice Department formally announces its clemency initiative plans and guidelines
- Is Prez Obama likely to grant clemency to “hundreds, perhaps thousands” of imprisoned drug offenders?
- New Slate pitch for Prez to use clemency powers to address crack sentencing disparities
- ProPublica reveals more ugliness in federal clemency process
- ProPublica urges next AG to “Fix Presidential Pardons”
- “Presidential Pardons Heavily Favor Whites”
- Investigation reveals (shockingly?!?!) that politicians and politics impact federal pardons
- DOJ audit of federal clemency process with sound and fury signifying nothing
- Updated numbers on President Obama’s disgraceful clemency record
- “Obama’s Mercy Dearth”
- Los Angeles Times calls out our “no-pardon president”