As stupid as this sounds to most of us, according to a few constitutional scholars including Jonathan Turley, (constitutional law professor at GWU and regular legal pundit on one of the networks, I don't recall which), President Obama should, just to get the Freepers to STFU, re-take the oath of office from Stumbletongue Roberts in private sometime in the next few days to make absolutely certain he gets the wording right:
A do-over "would take him 30 seconds, he can do it in private, it's not a big deal, and he ought to do it just to be safe," said Boston University constitutional scholar and Supreme Court watcher Jack Beermann. "It's an open question whether he's president until he takes the proper oath."
Actually, none of the others quoted say anything about it being an 'open question', but they do recommend nipping the issue in the bud just to cross every "t" and dot every "i":
The only reason not to retake the oath would be to prevent further embarrassment of the chief justice, he said. "It would seem appropriate for the president of the United States to take the oath specified in the Constitution," he said. "It's the same oath all 43 of his predecessors took. He ought to take it."
Yeah, because the last thing that anyone appointed by George W. Bush needs is further embarrassment.
The best part is from Turley, however:
Turley...was hosting an inauguration party at his home in McLean, Va., Tuesday and did a mock swearing-in of 35 children. When Roberts erred, one child shouted: "That's not right!"
"He should probably go ahead and take the oath again," Turley said. "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."
That's right: A young child knows the U.S. Constitution better than the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Sad. Just...sad.
Update: I just had an interesting theoretical thought: Suppose, hypothetically, that in the future, some President-Elect comes down with a horrible case of strep throat on Inauguration Day (or, even less likely, we somehow elect our first Mute President). They'd be physically unable to state the oath of office. What happens then??
Isn't this fun? :)