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The Inaugural Oath: Chief Justice Slip-Up
January 20, 2009 12:40 PM
Chief Justice John Roberts is a man who has made very few public missteps in his life -- but he appears to have made one when swearing in Barack Obama. Roberts slightly flubbed the oath, which then tripped up Obama.
The oath is contained in the Constitution: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
But when Roberts swore in Obama, he flipped some of the words, saying: "I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully."
Here's the transcript:
ROBERTS: Are you prepared to take the oath, Senator?
OBAMA: I am.
ROBERTS: I, Barack Hussein Obama...
OBAMA: I, Barack...
ROBERTS: ... do solemnly swear...
OBAMA: I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear...
ROBERTS: ... that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully...
OBAMA: ... that I will execute...
ROBERTS: ... faithfully the office of president of the United States...
OBAMA: ... the office of president of the United States faithfully...
ROBERTS: ... and will to the best of my ability...
OBAMA: ... and will to the best of my ability...
ROBERTS: ... preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
OBAMA: ... preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
ROBERTS: So help you God?
OBAMA: So help me God.
ROBERTS: Congratulations, Mr. President.
January 20, 2009 in Inauguration, Obama, Barack, President 44 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (75)
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Tell Charlie that Richard Nixon left by Helicopter!
Steve
Posted by: Steve Lindsay | Jan 20, 2009 12:54:06 PM
That's okay - you (abcnews) spelled "inaugural" incorrectly in this headline.
Posted by: ellsbells930 | Jan 20, 2009 1:00:40 PM
Isn't Chief Justice Roberts a repub? I wonder if he flubbed on purpose trying to make our 44th President Barack Obama, look bad?
It didn't work because NOTHING could make our President look bad on such an historic day.
Pam
Posted by: Pam | Jan 20, 2009 1:08:58 PM
I don't think it was on purpose. He was doing it without notes.
Posted by: ellsbells930 | Jan 20, 2009 1:13:18 PM
Duh......
Conservatives cannot do ANYTHING right.
Posted by: N. Murray | Jan 20, 2009 1:22:46 PM
Robert was nervous. So was Obama.
Who could imagine why?
History was being made.
Posted by: Douglas Watts | Jan 20, 2009 1:31:41 PM
Wingers already saying that since oath was not said correctly, that Obama is not president. Of course these are the same folks denying birth certificate, etc.
Posted by: DrSteveB | Jan 20, 2009 1:41:45 PM
Yeah, Fox News already had comments about Obama's presidency starting out with a flubbed oath, blaming it on Obama.
Great honeymoon, huh?
Posted by: Green Eagle | Jan 20, 2009 1:49:28 PM
So, basically, he did not take the oath as prescribed by the Constitution (note the words finally were there but out of order). Any constitutional scholars out there? What's the effect...
Posted by: JF | Jan 20, 2009 1:49:33 PM
"Without notes"? Who needs notes for 40 of the most famous words in American politics?
Posted by: Darrel Plant | Jan 20, 2009 1:52:57 PM
They shud fire the chief justice for not being able to read one simple line correctly, which even a 5-year old can. Why was Roberts in such a hurry...cudn't he be a bit slower so that he could have been well repeated. Seemed as if he had to catch a flight...ridiculous moron Mr. Roberts !
Posted by: chris | Jan 20, 2009 1:55:51 PM
Actually the oath isn't a constitutional requirment to become president. At the strike of noon (before the oath) Obama was already the PResident so this little muddling of oaths matters not at all
Posted by: MDK | Jan 20, 2009 1:59:57 PM
Hopefully, Obama will give him another crack at it 4 years from now.
Posted by: Truth Hurts | Jan 20, 2009 2:00:13 PM
No effect. None. Obama became president at noon, Washington D.C. time, per Amendment XX, Section 1 to the Constitution. "The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January ... and the terms of their
successors shall then begin."
Posted by: spikebrennan | Jan 20, 2009 2:00:26 PM
I would suspect they will privately have him sworn in again, just to make sure everything's kosher. When Diana married Prince Charles, they got his names wrong in the ceremony. Afterwards, they went ot a private room and did it over again, just so there weren't any technical mishaps.
Posted by: Troyce | Jan 20, 2009 2:00:46 PM
Ann Althouse makes a snarky takedown based on Roberts being a "Textualist" (of the USC) and then flubbing the words of the Oath (which are in the Constitution!)
Well, how about Barack Obama's speech? I think it was fundamentally good and stirring. He made many cogent and zingy points. I wish he'd addressed the festering Israel/Palestine issue directly, insisting that both sides talk and stop their destructive ways (terrorism, settlements and oppression.) We can't give up on that, it hurts and costs us too much. Also, nothing about healing sexual preference tensions IIRC.
BTW, buh-bye, incurious and insolent George! It feels like a suffocating, foreboding mass is lifted off me and the whole country.
Posted by: Neil B ☺ | Jan 20, 2009 2:01:22 PM
Roberts is not a legitimate judge -- he was selected by Bush, who was NEVER a legitimate president. He should be fired, along with every other Bush appointee. These people are ALL just as defective as the decider who chose them.
Posted by: jreed | Jan 20, 2009 2:01:52 PM
once again, a child could have done easily something completely beyond the grasp of a republican.
Posted by: mike | Jan 20, 2009 2:07:00 PM
Taking away the civil liberties of Americans - easy.
Reading something from a cue card - not so much.
Posted by: Mysterious Traveller | Jan 20, 2009 2:14:55 PM
John Roberts was a great co-pilot in Airplane!.
Posted by: joejoejoe | Jan 20, 2009 2:20:33 PM
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