John Roberts better not fuck it up again on Obama's swearing in....

[Panasonic]

I'll kick his ass.

I heard that he had to do it again privately to make sure it was Constitutionally valid.

For those who forgot:

As Chief Justice, Roberts also serves in a variety of non-judicial roles, including Chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution and leading the Judicial Conference of the United States. Perhaps the best known of these is the custom of the Chief Justice administering the oath of office at Presidential inaugurations. Roberts debuted in this capacity at the inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20, 2009. (As a Senator, Obama had voted against Roberts's confirmation to the Supreme Court, making the event doubly a first: the first time a president was sworn in by someone whose confirmation he opposed.[47]) Things did not go smoothly. According to columnist Jeffrey Toobin:
Through intermediaries, Roberts and Obama had agreed how to divide the thirty-five-word oath for the swearing in. Obama was first supposed to repeat the clause “I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear.” But, when Obama heard Roberts begin to speak, he interrupted Roberts before he said “do solemnly swear.” This apparently flustered the Chief Justice, who then made a mistake in the next line, inserting the word “faithfully” out of order. Obama smiled, apparently recognizing the error, then tried to follow along. Roberts then garbled another word in the next passage, before correctly reciting, “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”[48]

[Kaleva]

1. Need to clean the glasses. Thought title read "Julia Roberts better..."

[calimary]

13. Julia Roberts would have been able to administer the Presidential Oath without blowing her lines.

[JI7]

2. i remember , but he made up for it with the health care ruling

that lawyer from CNN wrote some book where he went into details of this thing. it was kind of interesting to listen to.

[Care Acutely]

3. Isn't that Skittles job?

I'm newish, kinda, (lurked for a long time) but . . .don't the ass-kicking duties fall to Ms. Skittles?

[Angry Dragon]

4. you are correct

[Skittles]

9. CORRECT, CARE ACUTELY

I WILL KICK ROBERTS ASS IF HE SCREWS UP AGAIN; yes INDEED

[Care Acutely]

10. .

[calimary]

12. Take a number.

[Marrah_G]

14. I would totally pay to watch that!

[11 Bravo]

26. INDEED! When asses NEED TO BE KICKED, our Skittles will KICK THEM!

And there's nobody better at it!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. I understand where you're coming from...

But I think it's a non-issue.

He did it again privately to shut up those who doubted it was Constitutionally valid.

[11 Bravo]

27. My Dear California Peggy ... I think this is just a bit of harmless venting.

I'll admit that I was somewhat miffed with Roberts when he fucked it up the first time, even though I was relatively certain that a Constitutional crisis would not ensue. This just strikes me as DUers poking a little fun at Johnny Apple Cheeks.

[Drunken Irishman]

7. WTF are you yappin' about?

[Tx4obama]

8. President Obama will be sworn in the day before inauguration day ...

January 20, 2013 – Oaths of office are taken by the President and Vice President; the new presidential term starts at noon.
January 21, 2013 – Inauguration Day (as the 20th falls on a Sunday)

[calimary]

11. Fucked up the soundbite.

First Black President. HISTORIC BEYOND ALL BELIEF AND MEASURE. And john idiot roberts fucks up the soundbite. That's why, when you see clips of that day in any retrospective or documentary or ANY such thing, all you get is the brief "I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear" and then they cut away abruptly. 'Cause the rest of it is a mess and unusable. Pissed me off royally, as a former newsperson! One extremely important soundbite - HISTORIC. And we're stuck with a truncated one because the Chief Justice couldn't keep his lines straight. On THIS of ALL Presidential Inaugurations. Presidential Inaugurations don't get any more historic than this one!!!

There was NO excuse for somehow getting flustered and blowing the order of the words. You don't get flustered. That's YOUR JOB as Chief Justice. You're not authorized to get flustered when you're swearing in the freakin' PRESIDENT of the freakin' United freakin' States of freakin' America! You don't get to be flustered. If you're Chief Justice forcryingoutloud it's your damn JOB to get it right and have it together on that day - especially THAT HISTORIC a day. This isn't some fifth-grader's book report presentation forcryingoutloud!

Damn idiot should have had it memorized. Should have brought it on cue cards. Hell, shoulda written it on his frickin' hand if he had to. He had more than two months advance notice and plenty of time to practice and memorize the relatively few words that he was in charge of that day. He knew this was part of his job as Chief Justice. This came as NO surprise to him as far back as when he himself was sworn in. Probably further, when he was nominated and, no doubt, ran through, or looked up, or had it fully explained to him, what his duties would be if confirmed by the Senate. I'd bet he practiced stuff like that in the bathroom the same way any actor or actress with dreams of greatness picks up a shampoo bottle in the bathroom and practices their thank-yous for the Oscar they fantasize that they just won.

And who cares if Obama interrupted or whatever. Makes NO difference. It's still THE JOB of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America to swear in the President. YOU'RE swearing HIM in. It's NOT the other way around! It's YOUR JOB to get it done accurately. Especially when the Presidential Oath is 30-some-odd words long. And it's a work load that comes up only once every four years, so it's not as though there's no time to practice or prepare.



I lost all respect for this clown john roberts on that day. Can't even keep the wording of the Presidential Oath straight? GEEZ...

[LisaLynne]

15. That was a beautiful rant ...

in the best sense of the word!

[FarCenter]

16. Seems redundant -- since he is already President, why does he have to take the oath again?

"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."

There is nothing in the oath that limits its effect to one term.

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

17. Remember when the right-wingers were in an uproar over this?

They all got their panties in a bundle over the fact that there was no Bible when the President and Chief Justice Roberts did the oath over again. I thought the whole ''redo'' thing was ridiculous. I remember watching Anderson Cooper the following day after the inauguration when they did the oath over and they had the "Breaking News" banner up and Anderson was questioning whether President Obama needed to sign documents again, etc.

Let's just hope Roberts has the oath written down this time. I remember watching it live and cringing. The President handled himself well though.

[WolverineDG]

18. I was there, freezing my ass off by the Washington Monument

while I & the others around me were a little disappointed at the flubbing, the overall impact of the historic event we were present at still hit us like a ton of bricks. I didn't understand all the screaming over it, either. A friend texted me later that day all agog about the Chief Justice messing up the lines, "Was the crowd upset?" HELL NO!

IIRC, can't recall there's ever been a time when over 1 million people gathered to witness one event AND THERE WERE NO ARRESTS.

[calimary]

20. I think that may have been the biggest crowd there, EVER.

My son was there, too. He got invited as what they called a "Presidential Scholar" in high school, for his great grades. He said he damn near froze his feet off, but he was so excited to be there that he didn't care. Our brainy boy forgot his cold-weather boots, of course. Also, he said his group was nearby when georgie-poo and laura departed from Washington afterwards. He said he saw their helicopter lift off, and he was in the crowd that was singing "Na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, hey-hey-hey, goo-ood-BYE!" He sang along, too!

That's my boy!!!!

[WolverineDG]

24. Everyone sang that song!!!

It was so loud, it was carried over several broadcasts!!!

But the yell that went up when Obama was sworn in is something I will never forget!! Over 1 million people cheering at the same time.....wow

[calimary]

19. Welcome to DU, PennsyvaniaMatt!

Sadly, that was just indicative of everything that was to come. These assholes were just bound and determined NOT to accept Barack Obama as duly-elected President. SHEESH! And they called US the Sore Losermen. They were, and unfortunately still are, just gonna find fault with EVERYTHING about him.

Glad you're here. I, too, hope john roberts is sufficiently ashamed of himself and chastised enough that he will swim nude up the Potomac that January day rather than blow the soundbite - AGAIN. That was a frickin' national disgrace. And if he had been a Democratic appointee botching the Oath for a republi-CON President-Elect, we'd never be hearing the end of it.

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

23. Thanks calimary!

You're right. I have seen not just opposition, but downright FEAR from people on the far-right with regards to President Obama. They think he is some African socialist/communist who is hellbent on making America a third-world nation. I often have to remind some of them that when it comes to dealing with the economy, health care, and taxes, President Obama is LESS "radical" than Bill Clinton was, and most of them think Bill Clinton was pretty good. Take for example health care. Obama and the Democrats basically re-introduce the same health care bill supported by Gingrich and Dole in the early 90s, and yet now they are screaming about death panels and rationing.

Same thing with taxes. Obama, to the dismay of many in our party, COMPROMISED with Republicans not raising taxes by FOUR PERCENT on top earners. In 93, Clinton raised taxes on top earners by EIGHT PERCENT!

I genuinely believe that most of the fear and talk of ''radicalism'' with this President is because his name is Barack Hussein Obama and he is African-American. Would they be calling him a ''radical'' if he was another white guy from Arkansas named Bill? (And I'm white!) It is a shame that kind of attitude still exists in this country, and hopefully, over the next 4 years, things change and people realize reality!

[a kennedy]

21. That really pissed me off......

and you're right, he better get it right this time.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

22. Obama Roberts Do-Over

President Barack Obama is given the Oath of Office for a second time by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. in the Map Room of the White House, Jan. 21, 2009.

[Bucky]

25. Chief Justice Frank Drebin.

[Sherman A1]

28. You know

It was the first time the guy did it, it was freezing cold and the crowd was huge.

I think we could cut him a little slack.