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BETTER SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICES PLZ?
One of the fun things about the new Obama administration is that I'm signed up for pool reports. And this one seemed worth posting.
At 735 pm, Roberts administered the oath of office again to obama in the map room. Robert gibbs said the wh counsel, greg craig, believes the oath was fine Tuesday, but one word was out of sequence so they did this out of a "an abundance of caution."
"We decided it was so much fun..." Obama joked while sitting on a couch.
Obama stood and walked over to make small talk with pool as roberts donned his black robe. "Are you ready to take the oath?" Roberts asked.
"I am, and we're going to do it very slowly," obama replied.
Oath took 25 seconds.
After a flawless recitation, roberts smiled and said, "congratulations, again."
Obama said, "thank you, sir."
Smattering of applause.
"All right." Obama said. "The bad news for the pool is there's 12 more balls."
Incidentally, all that stuff Obama did between yesterday and today? Doesn't count.
COMMENTS (13)
BETTER HEADLINES FOR YOUR POSTS PLZ?
Posted by: Anonymous | January 21, 2009 10:55 PM
Psyche!
Posted by: Shane | January 22, 2009 1:48 AM
Better Supreme Court Chief
Justices?
LOL. A better President would have said them in the right order on his own. After all, the guy did teach Constitutional law -- though admittedly there's very little in his policy toolkit to suggest he ever actually read the Constitution...
Posted by: cpurick | January 22, 2009 7:51 AM
On the other hand, it was nice to finally see a Democrat acting like the Constitution means exactly what it says.
Posted by: cpurick | January 22, 2009 7:57 AM
Gee, cpurick, you're going to have to point me towards the many crucial Supreme Court decisions regarding the placement of the word "faithfully" or any other word in the presidential oath of office thus necessitating the rote memorization of that oath by a Constitutional law professor.
Posted by: Philly | January 22, 2009 8:17 AM
It's just a dig, Philly. You know, kinda like suggesting something this episonde proves that the Chief Justice could be better.
Does anybody think the Supreme Court was going to rule that an oath administered by the CJ himself is unconstitutional???
Posted by: cpurick | January 22, 2009 8:28 AM
It was a stupid dig cu-prick. Roberts messed up, maybe even intentionally, but HE screwed up. Don't tryu to put this on the President. Your right wing "strict constitutionalist" should have been able to easily recite the lines, and do it correctly, but he could'nt. Like most regressives, he talks a good game, but he ain't shit when it comes down to it.
Posted by: onlinesavant | January 22, 2009 8:57 AM
Of course it's foolish for anyone to suggest that this minor goof says anything substantial about either the Chief Justice or the President.
I think the awkward oath was a human and memorable moment. I for one was happy to see the visible nerves of both these relatively young men.
Posted by: Philly | January 22, 2009 9:14 AM
I suppose you're probably joking with that last line, but I've heard that people with enough tinfoil on their hats are advancing it as a serious claim.
It seems likely that he could just ratify those decisions today, though, and the timing of the correct oath wouldn't actually be important.
Posted by: Chris | January 22, 2009 9:58 AM
Washington did not take the oath until almost 2 months into his presidency.
Chief Justice Taft botched administering the oath to President Hoover, as badly as Roberts did to Obama (and with less excuse, having taken the oath himself).
There have been a number of other glitches with the oath over the years:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_office_of_the_President_of_the_United_States
It doesn't matter.
Posted by: rea | January 22, 2009 10:28 AM
This definitely proves that Ohio wasn't really a state when they "ratified" the 16th Amendment.
Posted by: Pesto | January 22, 2009 11:30 AM
Obama became President at noon on Jan. 20. The oath is not the point of determination. If it were, they would have to have been a lot more strict about timing and not have noon strike while YoYoMa was playing.
Obama became President at exactly noon, everything he did afterwards is legitimate.
Posted by: Comrade Rutherford | January 22, 2009 2:39 PM
There was no bible the second time. He's still really not president. More likely shows his Muslim leanings. Do over! Do over! Is my tin foil hat on straight for the picture?
Posted by: rockfish | January 23, 2009 1:51 PM