Political Hotsheet
By

Mark Knoller /

CBS News/ January 21, 2009, 2:50 PM

No Plans For Obama To Retake Oath

(AP PHOTO)
This post was written by CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller.

When President Obama asked Vice President Biden to administer the oath of office to a number of White House staffers this afternoon, Biden asked for a copy of the oath, saying, "My memory is not as good as Justice Roberts."

It was a bit of sarcasm directed at the Chief Justice, who misstated the words of the presidential oath while administering it yesterday at the Inauguration.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says there are no plans for the president to retake the oath, despite not saying it exactly as stated in Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution at his inauguration yesterday.

"He should probably go ahead and take the oath again," George Washington law professor Jonathan Turley told the Washington Post. "If he doesn't, there are going to be people who for the next four years are going to argue that he didn't meet the constitutional standard. I don't think it's necessary, and it's not a constitutional crisis. This is the chief justice's version of a wardrobe malfunction."

But Gibbs tells CBS News that "no one has suggested" a do-over on the oath.

As for Biden's crack, it brought laughter and then groans from the audience of staffers in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
83 Comments Add a Comment
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wvu74621 says:
Television network bureau chiefs also protested the exclusion of video cameras from the second oath of office.

From Foxnews.com

A transparent administration Huh.
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bedwetter777 says:
So, by the stellar legal analysis of Chris Wallace and his twisted cohorts, none of those individuals has taken the precise oath prescribed by the Constitution and the U.S. has not had a legit President for decades, and may never have had one.---ogyu at 08:13 PM

Those farging, ice-hole bastages. All of our former "presidents" hated America!
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ontheleft says:
To make the viewers of faux news happy, and to prevent limbaugh from devoting a whole show to the ''controversy'' tomorrow, Obama has just re-taken the oath. Now, will everybody shuddup?!?
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ogyu-2009 says:
The Constitution says that the President shall say: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will ..."

It does not say: "I, [insert name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will ..."

And yet every President inserts his name between "I" and "do".

So, by the stellar legal analysis of Chris Wallace and his twisted cohorts, none of those individuals has taken the precise oath prescribed by the Constitution and the U.S. has not had a legit President for decades, and may never have had one.

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stinginrich says:
Just heard on the news that the oath has been redone. So, all the constitutional law buffs out there can be assured that Obama is undoubtably our president and can stop their hissy fits over p''''s and q''''s.


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Posted by bedwetter777 at 08:07 PM : Jan 21, 2009
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...but then, there''s still those Muslim and Birth Certificate matters to address.....Faux Snooz is allocating the next week of Broadcast Time to these important subjects.......
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bedwetter777 says:
Just heard on the news that the oath has been redone. So, all the constitutional law buffs out there can be assured that Obama is undoubtably our president and can stop their hissy fits over p''s and q''s.
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stinginrich says:
No surprise that a Mumbling Moron appointed by another Mumbling Moron couldn''t even read the words correctly.....CJ of the SCOTUS....Scary Sh*t.....
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bedwetter777 says:
Because that''''s what section 1 of the 20th Amendment says.---varaaki at 07:31 PM

Checking my TV schedule, I see that "Live With Regis Lee and Kelly Lee" is on at 9am and "The Price Is Right" is on at 10am. I completely understand why the framers of the constitution wouldn''t want to miss those shows. Everything on TV after that is *** until 4pm when "Oprah" is on. That leaves a nice block of time between 11 am and 4pm for the presidential oath and changeover in power. ;D
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russelllewis says:
Well, TexHillGirl, sounds like someone is a little bit bitter. There are so many things you said that could be applied to the former president but somehow I think mentioning them would be wasted on you. I guess if you don''t like the president, you could go up and live in Alaska with Sarah and the first dude and help them seceed from the union. Ya''ll have a great next 4 years, ya'' hear. :-)
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tmittelstaed says:
Ya know, the audio feed for Neil Armstrong''s mission was so bad that for 30 years people thought Neil had also screwed up when he put his foot down on the Moon. He was supposed to say "one small step for A man" but it sounded like "one small step for man". He was eventually vindicated - but NASA admitted 2 years ago that the original raw video tape of the entire Apollo mission has been lost - all existing video at this time is 3rd generation copies of the original feed. So, if Obama never really took the Oath, then maybe we never did go to the Moon, either! ;-)
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