January 21, 2009
I will faithfully execute the Oath of Office...
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What do Calvin Coolidge, Chester A. Arthur, and Barack Obama have in common?
Taking a second Oath of Office in as many days.
What will John Roberts go down in history for? If you say being the United States Supreme Court Chief Justice, you're probably overlooking one thing. He will be remembered for being rattled by Barack Obama, losing his concentration, and then mixing up the words of the Oath of Office of President of the United States, as recorded in the U.S. Constitution.
It happened like this, when Chief Justice John Roberts started by saying, "I, Barack Hussein Obama do solemnly swear..." well, he didn't get beyond the name before Obama started repeating Roberts' words. That was all she wrote. It was then a series of mix-ups and winging it until they eventually got on track. Those words were so jumbled, I could almost swear I heard Obama say, "I wish Renquist was still alive".
I was in the audience, standing about 3/4 mile away, shoulder to shoulder with about a million and a half other spectators witnessing history. When I heard that part, I immediately sensed something was wrong. It's funny, most don't know the Oath verbatim, however, if a word is left out like "faithfully" and tacked onto the end, you knew something was wrong. Can you say "CHOKE!"? Mr. Roberts choked.
The moral of the story is for Obama not to get too excited by jumping the gun at repeating the words before Roberts is ready. We know he was anxious to get it over with. They were running behind on time. The girls wanted to see the parade. But, seriously, let Roberts get through at least 5 words before repeating and interrupting.
Roberts, you should've brought a card with you to read the Oath. You are a rookie at this, still wet behind the ears. You both went to Harvard Law, but, that doesn't mean things go flawlessly while speaking a thirty-five-word oath in front of billions of people. Some theorists say Roberts did this on purpose, because then-Senator Obama voted against Roberts' appointment of Chief Justice. In his mind, Roberts didn't do enough 'community service', as if that is a prerequisite to interpreting the law.
Just remember four years from now, it doesn't read, "that I will execute the Office of President of the United States faithfully." Nope, the adverb 'faithfully' usually goes in front of the verb, 'execute'. I'll bet they'll never make that mistake again.
So they administered the oath again, today, the day after. This time with no Lincoln bible or billions of people looking on. Don't worry the odds are still good the Oath gets done correctly. 41 (of 44) presidents have done it correctly. Just Coolidge, Arthur, and Obama spoke their first words in office in an awkward fashion.
