Inaugural address

Here is Obama taking the oath of office:



Here is Obama's inaugural address, for those who missed it:



This was in many ways one of the most anticipated speeches in history. While some, such as Mitch McConnel expressed some distaste about Obama's characterization of the current ills, it in most part lived upto the expectations of the occasion. Meanwhile, Sen. Edward Kennedy's collapse during the inaugural lunch was a sad note to an otherwise hopeful occasion.

Here's the text of the speech.

One interesting tidbit is that during the oath of office Obama appears to stumble over the oath. It turns out that the Chief Justice had changed the words of the oath.

The actual oath reads: "I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) 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."

Here's what the Chief Justice actually said: "... that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully".

Obama starts by saying, "... that I will execute ..." but then hesitates. The Chief Justice helpfully prompts with "faithfully execute the office of president of the United States ..." This latter version is correct.

Unfortunately, having already said, "... that I will execute ..." Obama could either repeat a corrected version of his earlier phrase or repeat a slightly modified version. He opted for the latter coming back with: "... the office of president of the United States faithfully ..."

On TV, it looks as if Obama is stumbling, but it looks as if Obama was stumped because the Chief Justice had got his words wrong.

On a different note, at one point in the inaugural address, Obama does err when he says, "Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath." Oops. That's not exactly correct. One of the US Presidents, Grover Cleveland, won in 1885, lost in 1889 and won again in 1893. He served two terms, but not concurrently, and is counted as both the 22nd and the 24th President. So, although Obama is the 44th President, he is only the 43rd American to hold the office.