Wednesday, January 21, 2009 7:55 PM
Chief Justice John Roberts came to the White House tonight (Wednesday) and re-administered the oath of office to President Obama at 7:35 p.m. ET in the Map Room.
CLICK ON THE LINK AT TOP LEFT TO HEAR BARACK OBAMA RE-TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE, 2 DAYS AFTER INAUGURATION DAY
"Because there was one word out of sequence" in yesterday's oath, explained White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, the president took the oath again "out of an abundance of caution."
Only people in the room were President Obama, Roberts, Gibbs, WH communications staffer Katie Lillie, WH photographer Pete Souza, and four print reporters.
"We believe that the oath of office was administered effectively and that the president was sworn in appropriately yesterday," White House counsel Greg Craig said in a statement. "But the oath appears in the Constitution itself. And out of an abundance of caution, because there was one word out of sequence, Chief Justice Roberts administered the oath a second time."
President Obama was seated on a sofa when the pool reporters walked in to record the event.
"We decided it was so much fun," Obama joked.
Then Obama stood.
Chief Justice Roberts then put on his robe.
"Are you ready to take the oath?" Roberts asked.
"I am, and we're going to do it very slowly," Obama said.
Total running time of new oath: 25 seconds.
Roberts said, "Congratulations, again."
