Memberships to TMV’s Get A Life Club are not awarded easily. But some reaction to the inauguration of President Barack Obama compel the awarding of three memberships. Awards to go groups or individuals who blow something small into something big, fight mega-PC wars, or display breathtaking partisan or ideological hackery.
In some cases we’ll avoid using names but if we have a news link we will run part of a story — as is the case here.
AWARD ONE:
For all of the callers on some morning shows in Southern California who say Obama must re-take the oath or he might not really be President. That view is echoed by some experts as well. The first award goes to those clamoring for Obama to re-take the oath. This from the San Francsico Chronicle:
Several constitutional lawyers said President Obama should, just to be safe, retake the oath of office that was flubbed by Chief Justice John Roberts.
The 35-word oath is explicitly prescribed in the Constitution, Article II, Section 1, which begins by saying the president “shall” take the oath “before he enter on the execution of his office.”
The oath reads: “I do solemnly swear 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.”
In giving the oath, Roberts misplaced the word “faithfully,” at which point Obama paused quizzically. Roberts then corrected himself, but Obama repeated the words as Roberts initially said them.
A do-over “would take him 30 seconds, he can do it in private, it’s not a big deal, and he ought to do it just to be safe,” said Boston University constitutional scholar and Supreme Court watcher Jack Beermann. “It’s an open question whether he’s president until he takes the proper oath.”
The courts would probably never hear a challenge, and some might argue that Obama automatically took office at noon because that’s when President Bush left the office. But because the procedure is so explicitly prescribed in the Constitution, Beermann said if he were Obama’s lawyer, he would recommend retaking it, just as two previous presidents, Calvin Coolidge and Chester Arthur, did under similar circumstances.
THIS JUST IN: Media Matters reports that Fox News has made a big deal out of it too:
During Fox News’ inauguration coverage, Chris Wallace stated, “I’m not sure that Barack Obama really is the president of the United States, because the oath of office is set in the Constitution.” Wallace later claimed, “I wasn’t at all convinced that … John Roberts ever got it out straight and that Barack Obama ever said the prescribed words.” On Fox & Friends the following day, Fox News repeatedly aired video of the oath flub, and Gretchen Carlson asked of Obama, “Is he really president,” and went on to claim, “Because there was a flub in the oath of office.” However, numerous experts, including one quoted later on Fox & Friends, have reportedly said that an incorrect recitation of the oath is insignificant.
But just watch now as some argue that Obama isn’t really President because he wasn’t really born in the U.S. and never took the real oath.
AWARD TWO:
To a conservative talk show host in Southern CA who this morning said Obama took the oath and then “was partying” in an improper way at glamorous balls during a time of a recession. For not even giving a new President a 12 hour cease fire on demonization and dismissive talk show polemics designed to cast someone who believes differently than he does on issues in the worst possible light, he is proudly given this award (and we know his ratings will soar as he probably next makes an issue of Michelle Obama’s revealing dress and the fact that the Obamas danced to slow music. And just why was Stevie Wonder being so disrespectful wearing those sunglasses?)
AWARD THREE:
To a nationally syndicated liberal talk show host who made an issue of Rev. Rick Warren daring to mention the name of Jesus in his prayer. The host talked about separation of church and state. Why, how would you feel if you were a Jew and you heard the name Jesus, he asked..
A Jew named Joe Gandelman says:
It didn’t bother me one bit. I’ve done prayers with people of many religions in South Asia, the Middle East and Europe when I traveled during the 1970s as a freelance journalist and lightning bolts didn’t come down from the sky and hit me if their prayer contained wording that fit their religion, I didn’t feel deprived of my rights, it didn’t cause me to see a therapist and it certainly didn’t make me run out and convert. If they used language my religion didn’t use, I felt grateful since I can use all the higher power help that I can get.
FINAL Note: It has been dealt elsewhere, but conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh has said he wants Obama to fail. His comments go beyond this award.
He wins TMV’s Gomer Bile Award for an old character with and old act who seems to be re-run forever and ever.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.