Jan 21 2009
Chris Wallace
It has always been my considered opinion that Chris Wallace of FOX News is somewhat of a dolt. My opinion was solidified yesterday:
Where do I even start? I guess I’ll start with the Constitution. Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States contains the following paragraph:
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.”
Granted that Chief Justice Roberts flubbed the oath yesterday, but cut the guy a little slack. It was his first time administering this particular oath and I’m sure he was just a little flustered and nervous. I do not believe it was done purposely by the Chief Justice or as part of any right wing conspiracy to derail the presidency of Barack Obama (as some have suggested). In hindsight, he probably should have had the oath written down rather than trying to recite it from memory. I’m sure he’ll do much better on January 20, 2013 when he administers the oath to President Obama for the second time. (January 20, 2013 will fall on a Sunday. Just thought you’d want to know.)
President Obama tried to correct the Chief Justice, even pausing a moment to give him a chance to recoup and correct himself. Even then, the President put the word “faithfully” in the wrong place. According to Chris Wallace, this means that Barack Obama is not the president of the United States because the oath of office was not administered word for word as stated in the Constitution.
Alright, Mr. Wallace and the rest of you screamers out there, answer me this: Where in the presidential oath of office as outlined in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States of America do the words “so help me God” appear? The answer, of course, is “they do not.” The conclusion we must then draw, by Mr. Wallace’s standard, is that every president who ever uttered the words “so help me God” during his recitation of the oath was never legally the president. How many presidents do you think have said “so help me God” while reciting the oath of office? I’m not going to do the research, but I’m willing to bet there have been quite a few. In fact, including President Obama, I’d almost bet that the number is or approaches 44.
So we can only conclude that Chris Wallace of FOX News is a dolt. Does he really think anyone is going to go to court claiming that Barack Obama is not President because Chief Justice Roberts messed up the oath office? Really? Do you?
Many are saying that Mr. Obama became president at the stroke of noon on January 20th regardless of whether he took the oath or not. I have been unable to find anything, in the Constitution or elsewhere, to substantiate that claim. If anybody knows where that is written, please let me know in the comments. I’d appreciate it. [UPDATE: Found it. 20th Amendment, Section 1: "The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin."]
(Video courtesy of Raw Story.)
UPDATE: This is just plain silly: “Obama retakes oath of office after Roberts’ mistake.” Did he say So help me God this time, too? If he did, I’m calling for a do-over.
President Obama took a mulligan on the oath of office with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in the Map Room of the White House on Wednesday night. (Photo: Pete Souza/The White House)
Audio: Take two…
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Once more I will reiterate… The words “So help me God” do not appear in the oath as prescribed by the Constitution. They just don’t.
