Obama Says Chief Justice John Roberts Not to Blame for Flubbed Oath of Office

Barack Obama’s botched Oath of Office
President Barack Obama says it is not Chief Justice John Robert’s fault.

President Obama isn’t blaming Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts for slipping up as he recited the president oath of office during Tuesday’s inauguration ceremony.

Obama said Roberts actually helped him as he gave the oath, and that he was grateful.

“We’re up there, we’ve got a lot of stuff on our mind, and he actually helped me out on a couple of stanzas there,” Obama told ABC News backstage at the “Neighborhood Ball.”

“So overall, I think it went relatively smoothly and I’m very grateful to him.”

Various media and blogs have blamed either Roberts or Obama for the flub. Transcripts suggest that Obama broke in earlier than Roberts expected in repeating the oath, and that this may have thrown the chief justice off. He then put the word “faithfully” at the end of the phrase “I will execute the office of the United States” instead of at the front of that phrase.