My old lady getting me used to following orders

What a great day to be an American! As a former oath pro, one of my personal highlights from today came at the moment Senator Obama became our 44th President--as he was administering it to President Obama today, Chief Justice John Roberts flubbed the oath of office.

Here's the oath:

I (name) 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.*

Now, here's how it went:

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As a former oath officer at the Albuquerque Military Entrance Processing Station, I have a unique insight into giving an oath or two (or more than 800!). Granted, my audiences usually consisted of crying family members (I would always begin with a tearjerker that brought 9 of 10 moms to tears), and not nearly 2 million people.

That said, no matter how well I knew the oath, every time I went up there, I made sure that the oath was was in front of me, just in case (there was also an enlarged Oath of Enlistment beside me on the wall--my charges often couldn't handle the hear and repeat portion of the exercise). Justice Roberts is relatively young (he turns 54 next week); and this most likely won't be his last oath**. I bet that in the future he'll have a copy of the oath handy because he will always remember that under the heat of the spotlight, even the pros can drop a line.

Glory Daze

*"So help me God," is optional, and Obama opted to include it today
** The current record holder, Chief Justice John Marshall, issued nine inaugural oaths.

For more on the Presidential Oath of Office, here's the link to the Wikipedia article.

Labels: politics