President Obama retook his oath of office Wednesday after Chief Justice John Roberts flubbed while delivering it at Tuesday’s inauguration.
The second oath — also administered by Roberts — took place at 7:35 p.m. Wednesday in the White House’s Map Room. Roberts asked Obama whether he was ready.
“I am, and we’re going to do it very slowly,” Obama replied.
The do-over was aimed at dispelling any confusion that might arise from Tuesday’s take — in which “faithfully” was said out of sequence — and erase any question that Obama is legally the president.
“We believe that the oath of office was administered effectively and that the president was sworn in appropriately yesterday,” White House counsel Greg Craig said Wednesday in a written statement.
“But the oath appears in the Constitution itself. And out of an abundance of caution, because there was one word out of sequence, Chief Justice Roberts administered the oath a second time,” the statement read.
That seemed to throw the chief justice off stride, and he proceeded to mix up the order of the words in the next phrase.
The Constitution sets out the language that should be used in the oath: “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.”
Roberts moved the word “faithfully” back nine spots, and used “to” instead of “of.” That threw the president off base, and he smiled and paused to collect his thoughts, then decided to follow Roberts’ lead.
But the chief justice at the same time attempted to correct himself.
Before Wednesday’s do-over at the White House, Obama, waiting on a couch, joked that “we decided it was so much fun….”
Though a Bible was used in Tuesday’s oath, one was not used for Wednesday’s.
After a flawless recitation, Roberts smiled and said, “Congratulations again.”
“Thank you, sir,” the president replied. After a smattering of applause, Obama quipped that “the bad news for the [press] pool is there’s 12 more balls.”
Roberts has made no public comment on becoming tongue-tied Tuesday.
(Source: CNN)
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21 Responses
So now Obama is a Brisker i wonder how he would say shema
Completely unnecessary.
With millions of eyes focused solely on me I would also become tongue-tied
The oath is not me-a-kev (essential). Obama became President at 12 PM sharp yesterday. But it is a Mitzvah min HaMuv-har (preferable fulfillment) to repeat the oath correctly.
A new Takanah (enactment) will be made that the oath must be read from a written scroll that was copied from the original Constitution itself.
It was a sh’vuas shav!! 🙂
So in Lumdus he only became president today, even though lemaysa he was president since yesterday. This is very confusing.
He was a professor of constitutional law at a top law school.
Obama’s oath fumble is “Min Hashamyim” and I am certain that it troubles him deeeply. The proof: that he redid the oath.
The “Chazal” use the expression “Piv Hicshilo” for example: רש”י במדבר פרק כב
פיו הכשילו, גם אתם סופכם לילך בפחי נפש כראשונים
Hashem wanted him to become humble and think twice before speaking or acting. I think that he will be a better president becouse of it.
So technically, Joe Biden was president for a day, because his inauguration was chal, and Obama wasn’t president yet.
I was once at a Chupa, where the choson was mekadesh 3 times. 1st time one of the aidim didn’t see, 2nd was done but the kalloh wasn’t makneh the ring back before, and 3rd time, the Rov (who isn’t a Brisker, but a Vizhnitzer) was happy.
it was chal lemafraya m’can ulihaba.
If you want to get really Lomdish.. Could be a case of Mikan Ulehabo Lemafraya
Bottom line is, I don’t think he took the oath seriously, and that I think is a point of concern.
Don’t you he think he should have practised before to make sure he gets it straight? Did you see that he was smiling like a child as he was taking the oath? I sure hope he takes the office of the presidency more seriously than that.
The Constitution makes a point of specifying particular language for the oath of the President. Not saying it correctly doesn’t necessarily mean that Obama would not be President, but since the Founders thought it important enough to specify specific language for the oath, it was important enough to make sure that they got it right, even belatedly.
It’s a stirah between Article II Section 1 of the Constitution that says:
“Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:”
and the 20th Ammendment which says:
“The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.”
According to the first man d’amar, he has to say the oath. According to the second man d’amar he became President at noon regardless of taking an oath. So to be yotzei l’chulei alma he re-took the oath.
The shailah is what about the executive orders that were signed inbetween noon on the 20th and the re-taking of the oath? Perhaps he’ll re-do those too.
“The do-over was aimed at dispelling any confusion that might arise from Tuesday’s take — in which “faithfully” was said out of sequence — and erase any question that Obama is legally the president.”
Now how about showing us a legal U.S. birth certificate???
אין שבועה חל על השבועה
youre all just hilarious. how could roberts mess it up the first time. he probably practiced saying it a million times.
the whole reswearing was a PR move to give headline space in letting the world know who realy made the mistake lest people think obma made the mistake
yossiea,
Lechoira, it shouldn’t make any difference, because the oath is just a t’nai in the presidency, but avada he has a sheim president right away!
lechoira it was gilgul shevuah(eh wut?)
(Sorry Pres Clinton but) Does this mean that Condi Rice was the REAL first Black president for almost 24 hours????????