Seemed obvious to me this was Roberts’s first time doing this. Rehnquist, OTOH had this grand performance perfected where he would hold his hand up as if he were anointing the new President, IIRC.
Also just looked on Wikipedia and found my ears weren’t incorrect about another departure I heard yesterday: Roberts said “President to the United States”, not “President of the United States.” According to Wikipedia, Roberts blamed “incorrect prompting”.
I’ve never heard a Chief Justice pose it so obviously as a question, though. What a shame that Roberts so badly screwed up the oath; you could see Obama pause and look at him as if to say, “Do you maybe wanna rephrase that?” Justice John Paul Stevens, age 88, meanwhile, flawlessly led Joe Biden through the longer Vice Presidential oath. Go figure.
I understand the “Recite after me” guy was nervous as hell, but he made so many blunders, you’d think he’d have been better prepared for such an important occasion.
If you want people to “recite after you”, for crying out loud, keep the word sequences short, and recite each sequence using a continuous vocal drone!
Obama communicated to Roberts earlier that he was going to include the “So help me God” part. If he hadn’t wanted to use it, Roberts wouldn’t have prompted it in the first place.
Otherwise, I guess the answer is awkward silence, followed by Roberts shaking Obama’s hand and congratulating him.
Obama had previously asked Stevens to incude “So help me God” as part of the recitation. If he hadn’t wanted to say it, Stevens wouldn’t have included it.
If, hypothetically, the CJ solicited those words and the new POTUS didn’t want to say them, he could just ignore the prompt. The oath is over after the word “States.”
To amplify this point, Roberts’ performance at a seemingly simple task was embarrassing. The oath is 35 words, and he bungled it in at least three places. It appeared as if he hadn’t done any preparation at all, either to learn the words or the pacing with which the phrases have usually been said. This was a historic moment, which would have become one of a handful of iconic image’s in our nation’s history if the Chief Justice he’d demonstrated the slightest competency. It would be exaggerating to say that Roberts ruined the day, but he sure put a stain on it.
Give the poor guy a break guys, it’s not as if the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court should be intimately familiar with an obscure, rarely referenced text like the Constitution of the United States…
