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Presidential Oath Of Office


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With all the flap over who flubbed what and the do-over in private without a Bible, I decided it was time to review the source document requiring the oath to be issued.

 

US Constitution, Article 2, Section 1

 

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."

 

So no mention of the president's name, a Bible, or so help me God.

 

I thought Bush chose Roberts because he was a Constitutional Originalist. Wouldn't you expect an orginalist to give the oath as dictated by the Constitution with no additions or retractions?

We have some Constitutional originalists here on this forum, what do think about this?

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In all reality the 20th amendment kind of trumps some other stuff.

 

it states:

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.

 

Which means that Barak Obama became President at 12:00 noon, January 20th. This was a few minutes before he gave his oath of office, and obviously a day before the redo, but he was POTUS as of 12:00 noon on Jan 20th, 2009.

 

 

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Gern,

From the AP:

"The National Archives says George Washington added the words "so help me God" when he took the oath at his 1789 inaugural, and most presidents have used it since. However, some have argued that the first eyewitness account of a president using those words came at President Chester Arthur's inauguration in 1881.

 

Obama already has told Roberts he wants to use the words "so help me God" when he takes the oath."

 

My guess is Roberts saw no harm in following the long-standing precedent.

 

What I find more interesting is the mistake Obama made about being the 44th person to take the oath. I thought this guy was a genius. 57 states? Maybe math and numbers just aren't his thing.

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Well, then I also must be mathmatically ignorant too.

Isn't Obama the 44th president, so it would logically follow that only 44 men have taken the oath?

Not counting re-elections where one man might have taken the oath twice or in the case of FDR, 4 times.

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He is refering to former President Grover Cleveland. Cleveland was both the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, from 18851889 and 18931897; he was the only president to serve two, non-consecutive terms. So Obama was the 43rd person to take the oath, even though is number 44

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Fair enough. But that wouldn't make President Obama (I do like the ring of that) mathmatically challenged, but historically challenged. Or at the very least, presidential trivia challenged.

 

Back on topic, shouldn't the oath be administered as directed by the constitution without edit or addition?

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Second day in office and already the blithering right wing conservatives in this forum are spouting their idiocy. You guys are all a real piece of work and not really setting a good example of what a scout leader is all about. Of course I realize some of you guys can't help it as most of your comments are usually nothing but illogical nonsense. Obama is our president for at least the next four years so get over it already.

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I would hardly say this discussion qualifies as "blithering right wing conservatives spouting their idiocy". If anyone thinks so, then there's a number of call in radio shows that will enlighten you to true idiocy. This is more historical minutia.

 

I, for one, am extremely liberal.

 

To further ad trivia to the discussion, Obama may, in fact, have been the 44th person - that is, if David Atchison took the oath. Who is he ? Well, Zachary Taylor ( 12th president ) did not want to take the oath on a Sunday, so Atchison was ( or wasn't) the president for a day, and may ( or may not ) have taken the oath. His grave even reads "President of the United States for one day". Taylor took the oath on Monday. Atchison is said to have slept all day on Sunday. Anyway, more foder for discussion.

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--Second day in office and already the blithering right wing conservatives in this forum are spouting their idiocy--

 

And how long did it take liberals to start in on George Bush? Oh, yeah, they started before he took office because he "stole the election."

 

"blithering right wing conservatives?" "spouting their idiocy?" That's an example of Scoutlike speech?

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Well, the first President of the United States was probably John Hanson - 1781 to 1782. At that time, you could only serve one year. There were 6 others after him. Washington was the first under the current Constitution.

 

Don't know if he took an oath, though. Have to look that one up.

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