The Obamas Are Over Turkey Pardoning

President Obama wisecracked while his bored daughters looked on at today's Thanksgiving turkey pardoning, an annual presidential tradition old enough that the White House isn't really sure when it started. No one really expects the president to take the event, despite its age, all that seriously -- and Obama seems to take a few god-natured gabs at the absurdity of the whole thing. "It's kind of like a turkey version of Dance With the Stars, except the stakes for the contestants were much higher," he cracked of the contest to select the lucky birds. "Only one pair would survive and win the big prize: life. And an all expenses-paid trip to Washington, where they've been living it up on corn feed at the W Hotel. The W Hotel has really been putting them up."

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After a few more somber words about hungry families, the president pardoned the turkeys and went over to the birds with Sasha and Malia -- who, after greeting the press-packed crowd with smiles at first, looked downright bored throughout the whole event (see photo above). While petting one of the turkeys, the president tried cajoling his daughters to do the same. "You want to pet it?" he asked Malia. Her response: a blank stare. Ah, teenagers.

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