My sense (after running the short video a few times) is that Obama stopped because he was trying to help Chief Justice Roberts correct an error so Obama could say a line correctly. The error appears to be Roberts saying "the office of the President **to** the United States" instead of "the office of the President **of** the United States."
Obama's leadership skills and acute awareness of himself and others can be a delight to watch, and this appears to be another example. Despite the justice, Obama wound up saying his lines perfectly, while never losing either his composure, awareness of the words in play, sense of humor, or connection with the justice.
Here is my take on this little language-based gaffe: R: Are you prepared to take the oath, Senator? O: I am. R: I, Barack Hussein Obama ... (pauses) O: I, Barack ... R: (interrupts) "... do solemnly swear... " O: (starts over) I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear ...R: ... that I will execute the office of President **to** the United States faithfully ... O: that I will execute ... (stops, frowns, drops his head and looks at Roberts with a hard look that I interpret as saying "say your line correctly, pal," patiently waiting, apparently unwilling to say the incorrect President "to" the United States but also unwilling to say the line correctly without Roberts saying it first).
R: (stuttering over his words) the off ... faithfully the pres ... office of the President of the United States ... O: (grinning in a friendly way while looking at Roberts ... Obama then proceeds as soon as he hears Roberts say the phrase "office of the President **of** the United States," putting it all together and speaking rapidly) ... the office of the President of the United States faithfully ...
R: (back on track) and will, to the best of my ability ... Etc. The rest went as planned.I used the video of the swearing-in in the "Latest Video" box in today (Wednesday's) LA Times page at
http://www.latimes.com/So my theory is that a wrong preposition was the culprit. Other takes on what happened?
- Steve On Jan 21, 2009, at 5:19 AM, Ageliki Nicolopoulou wrote:
A slight correction about the "endearing moment." It was actually the child of justice who made a mistake and gave Obama the words in the wrong order. So Obama stopped at the word previously omitted (or put later on), smiled (what seemed to most people that he could not remember), then the chief of justice gave the words in the right order! --AgelikiCarol Macdonald wrote:Carol Macdonald says:What I found interesting was the poetic nature of his speech--"not this... but this" and no sign of any notes. It was most endearing when the chief justice gave him chunks that were too large in his oath and he got a bit lost. For heaven's sake, when you get married they give you bite size chunks to follow!! A guy at church last night wondered why we are only able to raise up black leaders in the last two decades. Well I think they had to fight from the bottom up, and have the dignity not to berate us for ourdespicable behaviour in the past. Instead they give *us* dignity... . 2009/1/21 Mary van der Riet <VanDerRiet@ukzn.ac.za>Indeed - the whole world is/was watching Nelson Mandela referred to him as: new hope for the world Mary Mary van der Riet; School of Psychology; University of KwaZulu-Natal Private Bag X01, Scottsville, 3209 email: vanderriet@ukzn.ac.za tel: 033 260 6163; fax: 033 2605809Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net> 2009/01/20 12:07 PM >>>Likewise in Australia. There is an Obama Party being held in our street as I write and the TV covergae goes all night tonight. Everyone seems to have projected their own hopes and aspirations on to this guy, worldwide. Andy Beatrice Ligorio wrote:Mike I just want to add that this event was a great emotion for Europetoo.We are all watching America as a new hope for global change. So much expectations are coming from this new American president and his new way of leading a powerful country, so influencial on the rest of the world.The wave got till the old continent :-) Bea----- Original Message ----- From: "Duvall, Emily" <emily@uidaho.edu >To: <mcole@weber.ucsd.edu>; "eXtended Mind, Culture,Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu> Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 2:11 AM Subject: RE: [xmca] A magic moment Thank you Mike. Good luck to us all. ~em -----Original Message-----From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu ]On Behalf Of Mike Cole Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 6:01 PM To: eXtended Mind, Culture, ActivityCc: communication@ucsd.edu; Laboratory of Comparative Human CognitionInternal List Subject: [xmca] A magic moment Dear Xmca-ers--Tonight is a magic moment. In the Los Angeles Times this morning therewas an editorial "cartoon" that had a picture of the Calendar with Martin Luther King, onJanuary 19th, pointing to the future-- of January 20th, when, Humanitywilling, when an African-American will become president of the United States. I feel unbelievably luck to be alive, present, and, in my small peripheral way, a participantin such an event. The site of Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen singingArlo Guthrie's hymnto the promise of this troubled country with its checkered history infront of Lincoln's statue yesterday was a sight I NEVER expected to live to see. When I was a child, my family's anti-racism and belief in social justice produced some very hard times. WhenI went to graduate school in Indiana and picketed Woolworth's literally dogged by the police, my New York liberal friends thought it was so obvious and unnecessary they couldn't be bothered. When I returnedfrom the USSR in 1963 and did not know enough to turn south from NewYork to be present inWashington for MLK's speech at the Lincoln memorial, but had to hear itwhile driving west on the Pennsylvania turnpike, we felt the lost opportunity sorely. All events, long past.LCHC holds this truth to be self evident: All persons are created equal.We are rendered unequalby the environment into which we are born, an environment that, in thegeneral ideological-theoreticalassumptions of xmca, is not forced upon human beings locked into an ironcage, but is, with proper respect and humility, constructed and (may our grand children hope) preserved by the actions we take now. today. tomorrow. and the days following.Gotta turn off the TV. The trivia level is almost more than I can bear.Better to turn to friends coming tocelebrate and pray for the future, and to listen to Pete Seeger leadingthe nation in us thought that, just maybe, we can overcome. Bon nuit bueno noche spokoini nochi and lots of good luck. We all need it. mike (the 50's guy) _______________________________________________ xmca mailing list xmca@weber.ucsd.edu http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca _______________________________________________ xmca mailing list xmca@weber.ucsd.edu http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca _______________________________________________ xmca mailing list xmca@weber.ucsd.edu http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------Andy Blunden http://home.mira.net/~andy/ <http://home.mira.net/%7Eandy/ >+61 3 9380 9435Skype andy.blunden Hegel's Logic with a Foreword by Andy Blunden: http://www.marxists.org/admin/books/index.htm _______________________________________________ xmca mailing list xmca@weber.ucsd.edu http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca Please find our Email Disclaimer here: http://www.ukzn.ac.za/disclaimer/ _______________________________________________ xmca mailing list xmca@weber.ucsd.edu http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca-- ********************************************** Ageliki Nicolopoulou Associate Professor Department of Psychology, Lehigh University 17 Memorial Drive East Bethlehem, PA 18015-3068 Personal Webpage: http://www.lehigh.edu/~agn3/index.htm Departmental Webpage: http://www.lehigh.edu/~inpsy/nicolopoulou.html ********************************************** _______________________________________________ xmca mailing list xmca@weber.ucsd.edu http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
_______________________________________________ xmca mailing list xmca@weber.ucsd.edu http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca