www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLu37dM6hsc

Looks like they re-did it.  Still wrong however, as Roberts prompted him to swear to God.  Sigh.  I’m sure that had they not done a re-do, conspiracy theorists would have claimed he wasn’t the actual President.  I’m sure that some will claim that anything he did between the point of his first swearing in and his second was technically illegal too… at least he was properly elected!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1Yff-_9MZs

The media has been making a big buzz about Chief Justice Roberts’ flub of the Oath of Office.  The Actual Oath as written in Article II of the Constitution reads:

“I Name Here 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.”

The Oath Administered by Cheif Justice Roberts was:

“I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully, (waits) the off… faithfully 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 Help you God?”

Most media sources have been covering Robert’s delivery of the oath as a light fluff peice to get a quick laugh.  I don’t care too much about the misspoken line, but more about the unconstitutional additon of “So Help You God?” to the end.  “So Help Me God” is a tradition, started by George Washington.  It is thought that most, if not every president since Washington has said it at the end of their oath.  That doesn’t mean the Supreme Court Justice should add it to the oath himself, the President Elect should add it to the end if they prefer.  Bad Chief Justice. Bad.

Will he live up to it? His tone so far has been moderate, despite liberals hoping they’d finally get a real-life West Wing presidency, and conservatives hoping they’d have a leftist democrat to rally their base around.  It looks like neither is going to get their wish… yet anyway.

As a gay man, I find Obama’s brand of hope a frustrating mix.  On one hand, he talks about equal rights for gays and lesbians, and says he’s going to be repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  On the other, he says he only recognizes marriages between men and women.

The idea of our first black president endorsing separate but equal for a minority group is sad, but I think gay Americans feel that he’s the best hope for getting things on the road to equality.