WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama stepped out into the sun in the Rose Garden at the White House on Wednesday to greet his guest of honor, a 40-pound turkey named Cobbler.
“Good afternoon everybody,” Obama said to a crush of several hundred reporters and White House staff members who gathered to watch the president “pardon” the bird in a lighthearted annual Thanksgiving rite.
Cobbler let out a ruckus, and Obama, flanked by his two daughters, Sasha and Malia, smiled broadly.
Instead of heading for the oven, Cobbler will live out his days in poultry paradise at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s Virginia estate.
“They say that life is about second chances, and this November, I could not agree more,” said the president, referring to his election this month to a second term.
Cobbler received the official pardon, but Obama joked that if the turkey could not fulfill his official duties, another white turkey, named Gobbler, “will be waiting in the wings.”
Since the Harry Truman presidency (1945-53), the National Turkey Federation has presented a live turkey to the nation’s chief executive. Since then, several presidents have declined to eat the turkeys they’ve been given. In recent years, the birds have been granted presidential pardons.
Cobbler and Gobbler were raised at Miller Farm in Harrisonburg, Va.
Arkansas is one of the biggest turkey producers in the nation. Trailing only Minnesota, North Carolina, Indiana and Missouri, Arkansas ranked fifth nationally in 2010, when it produced 549 million pounds of turkey.
But the last time a turkey from Arkansas got a White House reprieve was in 1981, according to The Poultry Federation, a trade group that represents chicken and turkey farms and processors in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.
Ronald Reagan spared that gobbler.
Before that, in 1965, another Arkansas turkey escaped the ax, receiving a last-minute reprieve from Lyndon Baines Johnson.
So where’s the love for Arkansas turkeys in recent decades?
“As big as Arkansas is, that’s a good question,” said Steve Willardsen, an executiveat Cargill Value Added Meats and the current chairman of The Turkey Federation. “We need one from Arkansas. We’ll see what we can do.”
So, while about 46 million other turkeys will be cooked, then set on dinner tables across the nation this Thanksgiving, Cobbler and Gobbler - two 19-week-old toms - will be “swept up in a whirlwind of fame and fortune” that will land them at Mount Vernon, where they will live out their lives under special care, Obama said.
The turkeys were picked by the White House after people cast their votes for Cobbler and Gobbler on the White House’s Facebook page.
On Tuesday, before their big day at the executive mansion, the birds stood surrounded by reporters and photographers outside the swank rooftop bar at the Hotel Washington, about a block from the White House.
As the cameras clicked, Cobbler and Gobbler nibbledon a special mix of greens and cranberries, a big change from their usual soy and corn diet.
Three people from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, wearing turkey outfits, demonstrated outside the White House while Obama pardoned the animals. They held signs that read: “Pardon All the Turkeys,” and “Drop the Drumsticks: Eat Vegan.”
“It’s never been easier to choose a meat-free meal at Thanksgiving,” said Ashley Byrne, the animal-welfare group’s campaign manager, who accompanied the trio.
Other turkeys will also be a part of Obama’s Thanksgiving tradition. After the pardoning ceremony, he said, he and his family planned to deliver two turkeys to a Washington, D.C., food bank.
“We give thanks not only for the things we have or the people we love, but for the spirit that keeps us through the toughest times and holds us together, one American family,” he said.
Arkansas, Pages 15 on 11/22/2012