After President Obama and Chief Justice Roberts flubbed the 35 word oath of office at the inauguration ceremony, some constitutional lawyers said President Obama should retake the oath of office.
The 35-word oath is the only oath explicitly prescribed in the Constitution. The oath reads:
"I do solemnly swear 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 flub occurred when "Roberts misplaced the word 'faithfully,' at which point Obama paused quizzically. Roberts then corrected himself, but Obama repeated the words as Roberts initially said them."
Last night Obama and Roberts did a do-over, and went through the drill again:
This time, the scene was the White House Map Room in front of a small group of reporters, not the Capitol platform before the whole watching world.
"We decided that because it was so much fun ...," Obama joked to reporters who followed press secretary Robert Gibbs into the room. No TV camera crews or news photographers were allowed in.
Roberts put on his black robe.
"Are you ready to take the oath?" he said.
"Yes, I am," Obama said. "And we're going to do it very slowly."
Roberts then led Obama through the oath without any missteps.
You can listen to the do-over below:
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