The only glaring hiccup in Barack Obama's silky smooth campaign and transition to the presidency occurred on Inauguration Day when Chief Justice John Roberts stumbled during the administration of the presidential oath. The incongruity of the moment was noted by citizen observers and the media. Conspiracy theorists, as well as critics of President Obama raised questions about the legitimacy of his office, absent the "constitutionally correct" oath of office. But as many experts and our own Dean have explained, a mangled oath doesn't de-legitimize the presidency. However just to be on the safe side, President Obama took a second oath yesterday evening. Justice Roberts apparently got it right on the re-take.
Everyone, including the Chief Justice agreed after the event that it wasn't Obama but Roberts, who created the syntactic faux pas. President Obama, a man known for his grace and composure under pressure and amidst unexpected turn of events smiled sympathetically at his oath giver when it became clear that the ceremony had gone awry and the scripted words were becoming scrambled. Theories abound as to why Roberts, also a man known for his minimalistic and cool demeanor, failed to go through a routine for which both men should have been well prepared (what's wrong with a 3 X 5 index card on these occasions?). Bloggers and commentators have speculated that:
- Roberts is so pissed off at Obama for not voting for him during the senate confirmation hearings that he deliberately and vindictively messed up Obama's solemn moment before the whole world.
- Roberts is so pissed off at Obama for not voting for him during the senate confirmation hearings that he lost his customary cool and his sputtering was caused by passionate anger.
- Roberts, a man of "reactionary" judicial leanings (Brian Leiter) who has sided with George Bush on increasing war time executive powers and against individual freedoms, choked up because he fears that Obama will correct the human rights and rule of law violations of the Bush-Cheney regime.
- Roberts became distracted because his hair became unstuck by a strong wind and blew into his eyes.
(cartoon: Tom Toles)
Accidental Blogger 
6 responses to “The Inaugural Flub”
Among the experts, there is Steven Pinker in the NYT, and Jack Balkin at his blog. Balkin takes a stab at a modest proposal slightly less hyperbolic than Swift’s, to mixed results. I think Pinker is on to something. Roberts was uptight about the grammar, and for that I commend him. But Pinker’s wrong about the ungrammaticality of split infinitives being an urban legend. The Chicago Manual of Style admits to frowning upon it as recently as 1983, and even now, according to the Manual‘s Q&A area of its web site, only “allows” breaking the rule in certain situations.
Yet the Q&A goes on:
And this, I think, says something not only about CJ Roberts’ impulses at the Inauguration, but also about his capacity as a jurisprude. His much touted “brilliant legal mind” is perhaps little more than a finicky legalistic one.
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Some wag on another site suggested “If Obama wasn’t sworn in properly and isn’t really President , can we reelect him in 2012 and in 2016? Sounds like a great bargain.”
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The Chicago Manual pontificates on American, not English. It should be scrapped.
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The Chicago Manual pontificates on American, not English.
Be that as it may, a hearty chorus of pontification elevates a rule of grammar from urban legend to dogma.
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By all accounts CJ Roberts was an outstanding appellate advocate, as good of an attorney as you could ask for in that capacity. So I guess you could say he has a “brilliant legal mind” in that way. Of course, that doesn’t make him a brilliant (or even particularly good) judge, let alone justice.
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Your column and the NYT column were really funny… my mom swears it was subconscious anger at Obama’s ‘no’ vote on Roberts’ confirmation. I would chalk it up simply to nerves. It was extraordinarily frustrating though – come on, the first black man to be President and the Chief Justice has to go mess up the oath!!! Would have been a good West Wing subplot…
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