On Doing It Without a BIble
So after Chief Justice John Roberts and President Obama bungled the constitutionally mandated Presidential oath of office, they had a do-over. When Obama was sworn in on Tuesday, he placed his hand on the same Bible Abraham Lincoln used at his inaugurations. But yesterday, during the redo, OBAMA DIDN'T USE A BIBLE.
And this, if you are a blogger, is cause for profound concern. (See, for instance, Drudge.) Questions I've seen on blogs today include:
1. Is Obama President if he didn't swear the oath on a Bible?
2. Did Obama and Roberts--who I'm sure are dear friends after Obama voted against Roberts's confirmation to the Supreme Court--conspire to bungle the oath so that when Obama REALLY took the oath, he wouldn't have to use a Bible, because he is a secret Muslim?
3. Doesn't this make you wonder about Obama's piety?
Yes, no, and no. I talked about the history of inaugurations in this video. Presidents who swore the oath of office without a hand on anything include John F. Kennedy and Teddy Roosevelt. (John Q. Adams and Franklin Pierce both swore the oath on books of law.) So Barack Obama is the President. (!)
Related: This wasn't racist. If you think that was racist, you're confusing "racist" with "awesome."
posted by John Green @ Thursday, January 22, 2009
23 Comments
23 Comments:
If you think that was racist, you're confusing "racist" with "awesome."
So true. That almost never happens.
Excellent post. Just thought I'd say so.
And that's where I have to disagree. The benediction was extremely racist and disappointing.
I agree. I was about to point out those presidents that had taken the oath on books of law before I saw you already had.
-Julian
Wonderful post, Mr. Green!
His benediction was indeed awesome.
People are silly.
This is pointed specifically to lutherjw--although it's still apt to John's post.
During the benediction, I don't believe that Lowry was being racist. You just have to know that he was using old slogans from the Civil Rights movement. I believe he was making a point about how Obama taking office was a point of fulfillment of those slogans, but that there's still work to do...making the inside match up with the outside.
But that's just my two cents.
Rerav - the act of nuking leftover ravioli in the microwave.
Captcha Dictionary
A secret Muslim? that's such crap.. it sounds like he's some sort of super secret evil agent double crosser or something. Muslims have a better record of being more accepting of other religions in the long run... why can't we all just calm down.
The 20th Amendment says:
"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."
We can all agree Obama's term began 1/20/2009 at 12:00 Noon.
Section 2 says:
"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.'"
No definition of what "take" means as far as the Constitution goes. I'm sure Barack took the oath several times while preparing for the public ceremony (too bad Justice Robert's didn't prepare enough).
We may have to get Malia and Sasha to testify when the Supreme Court voids their Dad's claim to the Presidency because he didn't say the oath before he automatically entered upon the execution of the office at 12:00 noon.
Obama's public recitation of Robert's flubbed oath was clearly done to try to lessen any embarrassment to the Chief Justice. He put his bipartisanship front and center with his first presidential act.
Every federal employee is sworn to protect and defend the constitution. As a seasonal park ranger, I took the oath twice; when I worked for Social Security for 6 months, I took it again. Using a Bible is a tradition at inaugurations, but not a requirement. You can rest assured that ordinary federal employees don't take the oath of office over a Bible. Besides, even though Roberts botched it, it surely counted the first time. The solemnity of the oath, whether taken at a beautiful national park like Great Sand Dunes or Mesa Verde or in a cramped Social Security office, or screwed up on a national stage--that's what matters. It's a cool thing to say, and much more profound and important than saying what is to me a meaningless pledge to a flag (although I am fond of the flag as well).
I think people forget that religious freedom was one of the main reasons this country was started. Even if Obama is a Muslim... who cares? It's sad. We're always going to have bigotry even when it's not related to race. Poor Obama just can't win with these people! Haha.
Iffin Obama was a whitey, he would have been praised for not outing Justice Robert's own flub, and this whole issue would not be.
Yep, the benediction was awesome. Inviting Rick Warren was a savvy political move. Aretha Franklin was brilliant. Just wish Jeremiah Wright maybe woulda coulda shoulda stayed in the picture a bit longer!
john, thanks for pointing to the video of the benediction. i hadn't seen that part of the inauguration...what a beautiful, moving prayer.
George Washington made it a precident to say "so help me god" at the end. everyone just said that after him because they either wanted to follow in his footsteps and thought that would bring them luck or they didn't know that they werent supposed to say it.
I think people just need to relax sometimes. Everyone is always looking for the negative in life. If people would spend their time looking for the positive, people would be happier. He said a lot of great positive things during those 6 min. Why twist one sentence into something negative?
Also this wasn't the first time in history that the oath was flubbed and I bet it won't be the last. People make mistakes when they talk. Everyone does. It also doesn't matter who made the mistake (negativity again!)
I also don't understand why people keep bringing up the Muslim argument. It holds no water. A Muslim should have an equal shot at being US president than any other religion.
See, I don't have an issue with President Obama taking the oath of office without a Bible. I'm a Christian, I have read the Bible, and we are specifically instructed NOT to swear oaths that appeal to Heaven, but to let our "yes be yes" and our "no be no". President Nixon actually took the oath of office without using God's name, because his Quaker faith taught that it would be disrespectful to God to swear on his name. (Of course, some people would say "And look how THAT turned out," but anyway...)
Technically, at noon on January 20th Obama was president no matter what, according to the constitution. An oath is not necessarily necessary (hehehe).
LBJ wasn't sworn in with a Bible as he was on Air Force One, he was also the first president sworn in by a woman.
"If you think that was racist, you're confusing "racist" with "awesome."
That was definitely my favorite part of all of the 20th along with Yoyo Ma and Perlman performing TOGETHER. Oh, and Obama becoming President was pretty good, too.
What disturbs me more is the assumed requirement to swear on a bible at all. It's not something that is taught Inside the bible and beyond that we supposedly have separation of church and state. Clearly we do not have that separation or details like this and the rumors of President Obama being a "secret Muslim" wouldn't matter at all... what are we going to do if we ever elect a non-Christian to office? Maybe in another 100 years we'll need to worry about that. :/
Is there a reason why the "i" in Bible in the blog title is capitalized? CONSPIRACY THEORY!
learn to love me
the koran knows the way
we can pray five times a day
my only weakness is a list of crimes
my only weakness if well, never mind, never mind
secret muslim presidents of the world,
unite and take over
secret muslim presidents of the world
hand it over
hand it over
america's over
You'll learn to love keffiyahs
And socialist ways
Yes, of Kenyan-birth, always
My only weakness is for white-on-white crime
But last night the plans for my future war
Was all I saw
on al-jazeera
secret muslim presidents of the world,
unite and take over
secret muslim presidents of the world
hand it over
hand it over
hand it over
Great post!
The other thing most people seem not to know is that the oath does not include the words "So help me God" and some presidents, although I don't know which ones, have actually not said them. Separation of church and state--what a concept!
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