Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Why does Pres. Obama use so many pens when he signs docs, declarations, reforms, bills, papers etc???

Mama Bria and I were watching Pres. Obama sign about a kazillion and 3 forms and we wondered why did the President sign with different pens?? Why in the world was it necessary to use several pens?? Was that standard procedure?? How come I never noticed Pres. Bush with a bushel of pens when signing papers??

Time.com reported Pres. Obama had to get used to signing documents with different pens. 'Obama struggled with the practice of using a different pen for every document he signed. "They are very nice pens," the President advised his aides.'
(See pictures of people around the world watching Obama's inauguration.)

U.S. Presidential pens are often uniquely manufactured and engraved so that they can be given away as gifts, usually to someone who was significant in the creation of the bill or who is otherwise symbolically related to the bill.

Other times the president uses several different pens to sign different copies of the same document so there will be enough to go around. They become the treasured keepsakes of the legislature and other people who worked to push the specific issue being signed into law.

The giving of the pen has long been a time-honored tradition of the U.S. presidency. But few recent presidents have used pens as often as the late President Ronald Reagan.

According to Hoover Digest, he wrote over 600 of his own radio speeches and television talks by hand.

Sen. John McCain even used a veto pen given to him by President Reagan as a symbol during his 2008 presidential election bid, most notably vowing to use the prized instrument to cut the pork from the federal budget, ABC News reported.

The Providence Journal reports that the special black lacquer pens used by President Obama to sign his official inauguration documents at the ceremony on Tuesday were provided by Rhode Island’s A.T. Cross Company of Lincoln.

They were engraved with Mr. Obama’s initials and the presidential seal. source

And now you know as much as we do!! :)

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