Roberts’s Mea Culpa (sort of)
23 January 2009
One Comment
Obama and Roberts do it again.
So usually we bestow a Mea Culpa on someone who admits he or she screwed up. U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts definitely screwed up in his first Presidential swearing-in reading the words of the oath wrong and making Barack Obama look screwy as well. Roberts didn’t exactly hold a press conference to talk about it — and frankly it was no big deal.
But kudos to Roberts for insisting on doing the swearing in again just to be sure and, according to some reports, to quash any right-wing conspiracy nuts who were questioning the legality of it all almost immediately. Even Chris Wallace on Fox News channelled his inner nutcase, “I’m not sure that Barack Obama really is the president of the United States, because the oath of office is set in the Constitution. And I wasn’t at all convinced that even after he tried to amend it that John Roberts ever got it out straight and that Barack Obama ever said the prescribed words.”
Of course an analyst on the anti-Fox, MSNBC said at roughly the same time that Roberts ought to be impeached for flubbing the oath. Really.
Ummm. Right. So anyway a Mea Culpa for the unspoken admission by Judge Roberts.
I happen to respect both Chief Justice Roberts and President Barack Obama. However in this situation, I feel Chief Justice John Roberts did an injustice to our incoming President Barack Obama by not only reversing the word order while giving President Obama the Presidential Oath of Office, but also by hesitating between lines causing him confusion. I am happy that President Obama remained confident throughout the debacle, but his botched oath was witnessed around the world and was not well-received. From what I understand, Roberts gave the oath a second time to President Obama without a Bible; which has become additional fodder for the media. To be sure, there has been no love lost between these two prior to Inauguration Day since President Obama didn’t support Roberts’appointment. However, President Obama rose to the occasion and emerged as a true gentleman. Our First Lady, Michelle Obama is another story. She didn’t even flinch. Is she human or what?