Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:—"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."That is the last paragraph of article II section 1 of the United States Constitution. Right about noon today, in Washington, D.C., Barak Obama will say those words and become the 44th President of the United States.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
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Hail to the chief!
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6 comments:
Give or take ...
Yes, modulo John Roberts getting the lyrics right.
I'm just waiting for some pundit to claim that he wasn't legally sworn in because he used the John Roberts wording rather than the exact wording in the Constitution.
Well, if it comes to that, he can always take the oath again.
I can just see someone bring that case to the Supreme Court - under the leadership of Mr. Roberts, the guy who administered the oath.
The weenie-wonk in me observes the Constitution only says the President cannot "enter the execution of his office" until he first swears or affirms. The 20th Amendment says that the term of the president and vice-president end at noon on 20 January (doesn't give a time zone :) ), so Bush was out of office. At worst, Biden was President for a brief while. But even then, I would argue that Obama didn't "execute" anything until later.
«Well, if it comes to that, he can always take the oath again.»
Well, and so he has done.
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