Off Script Inauguration

There were few minor glitches in the Oath of Office for the Presidency which created ironic theoretical problems.

Firstly, there was the timing. The 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution stipulates that: The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January...".

The Vice President Biden's oath occurred at 11:59 a.m. and was followed by a musical interlude by a high profile quartet. This piece continued until 12:06 p.m. Only then did Chief Justice John Roberts administer the Presidential Oath of Office to Barack Hussein Obama. This delay technically made Vice President Biden the Head of State as Acting President for six minutes.

When Senator Diane Feinstein introduced the Chief Justice, it sounded like Roberts was introduced to administer "the oaf" of office. That may have been El Rushbo's bad hearing aid at work , however Feinstein did not clearly enunciate.

As the pair took center stage, Obama made a sotto voce joke "That was for you" about the riser that was intended for the shorter of stature wife to look on equal footing her husband. Both politely chuckled.

However, the levity made have precipitated some verbal flubs in the administration of the Presidential Oath of Office. Obama started to swear too quickly by immediately repeating his name after the Chief Justice uttered it, but the Obama stopped short and froze Then Obama properly repeated the first line after being prompted. Then the Chief Justice transposed the "faithfully" portion of the familiar oath to the end of the next clause. Roberts realized his error and tried to quickly vocalize the proper oath, but Obama repeated the Chief Justice's original phrasing. This lead Fox News Sunday Anchor Chris Wallace to jokingly opine that since the Presidential Oath was botched, he may not be the legitimate president, as if the tin foil hat types need any more encouragement.

I guess they both should not speak off Tele-Prompter.