Updated with Video:Obama and Roberts Blow The Swearing In a Second Time
Tommy Christopher
Contributor
Posted:
01/21/09
Updated: With video.To quote Jim Backus, "Oh Magoo you've done it again!"
Even though the White House counsel said it wasn't necessary (full press release, Chief Justice John Roberts and President-elect Barack Obama took a second crack at the swearing in this evening. Knowing how things went the first time you would think there'd be no way they'd mess it up a second time.
Here's how it went (from pool report):
At 735 pm, Roberts administred 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."
That works out. It was Obama, Roberts and four pool reporters. That's twelve.
Ahhh, but not so fast. An addendum to a later pool report notes the following detail:
Sorry, meant to add: obama raised his right hand and left was at his side.There was no Bible. There was no Bible? Are you kidding me? After all the trouble they went through to be sworn in on the Lincoln Bible they didn't they'd need one for the second shot? What, were they afraid to pay the late fees at the Library of Congress? Did they really think, oh no one will care about that detail? Why didn't Roberts just say Kenya instead of America by mistake while they were at it?
There was No Bible.
The Republicans, birfers and PUMAs are going to do this when they find out.
sss
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White House press release:
"We believe that the oath of office was administered effectively and that the President was sworn in appropriately yesterday. 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."
