Obama Retakes Oath Of Office (Photos)

Posted on January 21, 2009

After the blunder yesterday, Barack Obama has retaken the US presidential oath of office. Read more on Barack Obama retaking the oath of office below.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the oath for Barack Obama at the White House where no cameras or press were allowed. Yesterday, Roberts made a mistake by transposing some of the words to the oath, which made Obama follow.

To make certain, Roberts and Obama practiced again as a precaution.

This time, the oath was done in the White House Map Room in front of a small group of reporters.

“We decided that because it was so much fun …,” Mr Obama joked to reporters who followed press secretary Robert Gibbs into the room.

Mr Roberts then put on his black robe. “Are you ready to take the oath?” he said.

“Yes, I am,” Mr Obama said. “And we’re going to do it very slowly.”

Roberts then led Mr Obama through the oath without any problems. The president said he did not have his bible with him, but that the oath was binding anyway.

t happened when Obama interrupted Roberts midway through the opening line, in which the president repeats his name and solemnly swears.

Next in the oath is the phrase “…that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States.”

But Roberts rearranged the order of the words, not saying “faithfully” until after “president of the United States.”

That appeared to throw Obama off. He stopped abruptly at the word “execute.”

Recognizing something was off, Roberts then repeated the phrase, putting “faithfully” in the right place but without repeating “execute.”

But Obama then repeated Roberts’ original, incorrect version: “…the office of president of the United States faithfully.”

Craig, the White House lawyer, said in a statement Wednesday evening: “We believe the oath of office was administered effectively and that the president was sworn in appropriately yesterday. Yet the oath appears in the Constitution itself.”

“And out of the abundance of caution, because there was one word out of sequence, Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath a second time.”

The Constitution is clear about the exact wording of the oath and as a result, some constitutional experts have said a do-over probably wasn’t necessary but also couldn’t hurt.

In the past only two other previous presidents have repeated the oath because of similar issues – Calvin Coolidge and Chester Arthur.

Well, second times the charm for Obama!

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