President Obama appeared to stumble a bit while taking the oath of office during his second inauguration, but it's nothing compared to the flub four years ago.
In 2009, Chief Justice John Roberts prepared for his first swearing-in of a U.S. president by not doing much preparation at all. He famously administered the oath without notes, relying on his memory, which in this instance was a little faulty.
In addition, an email he'd sent to the White House informing them where in the oath he would pause for President Obama to repeat his part never made it through, so the chief justice and the president were out of sync, talking over each other. Obama didn't know when to speak, or if he should repeat Roberts' erroneous lines or say the oath as written in the Constitution.
The men muddled through, and later Roberts administered the proper oath, just in case.
This time, Roberts' performance was perfect, but Obama appeared to have stumbled over the word "states" in the phrase "the office of President of the United States."
Of course, this time around, the public ceremony is the one that doesn't matter, since Obama and Roberts took the real oath on Sunday, the day the Constitution says a new presidential term begins. But when a new term falls on a Sunday, tradition dictates that the public celebrations take place the following day. Count 'em up: that makes four oaths of office for Obama altogether.
Fortunately, the Constitution is not so fickle that a little mispronunciation can unseat a president. Obama could have sung "I'm a Little Teapot" on stage and he'd still be president, legitimate in the eyes of the law and the founders.
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