Justice Roberts and President Obama Flub the Oath
There has been some debate among bloggers about the oath President Obama took earlier today. Liberal bloggers argue that conservative Chief Justice Roberts flubbed the oath, which caused Obama to do the same. Conservatives (and others) ignore Roberts’ mistake and focus solely on Obama, blaming him entirely for the mistake.
So, what actually happened? First, did Obama flub the oath, if so, did Roberts flub it as well? Lets have a look at the transcript:
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.
The transcript makes clear that Justice Roberts made a mistake first, then corrected it, after which President Obama repeated the mistake not the correct version. In other words, both flubbed the oath, Roberts corrected himself, Obama did not.
More important than the flub, though, is that the message stays the same; the meaning of the sentence does not change. Shorter; there’s no use in debating the issue since it doesn’t matter whether Obama flubbed it and if so why.
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This works right?
I thought it was Obama who jumped the gun first. Then Roberts made the “faithfully” mistake, Obama paused, Roberts corrected himself but Obama said it the wrong way anyway!
When I watched it I thought that Obama had a brain freeze in the midst of repeating the ‘execute’ passage (it looked like he first jumped in too soon, then was really nervous and tongue tied on the second part.)
But after reading the explanation and seeing that Roberts did in fact put the ‘faithfully’ in the wrong place, it makes sense as most people are pointing out that Obama’s pause was to allow Roberts to repeat it the correct way. But as MM points out, assuming that Obama did know the correct wording and waited for Roberts to get it right, he then flubbed it by repeating the incorrect version.
Sort of reminds me of those times you try to walk past someone on their right side and they think you’re going to go the other direction- and then you try to correct and go the other way, but then they also try to correct and you end up bumping into each other!
I suppose it isn’t every day that someone is inaugurated as US President in front of a crowd of over a million people. I guess that both Obama and Roberts were a bit nervous….
Both flubbed it. I don’t care that they did, everyone makes mistakes when they’re nervous…..what really bothers me is that the media is already covering for Obama….most media outlets simply day Roberts flubbed it (which he did) but completely ignore the fact that Obama did as well