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Re: [xmca] A magic moment: swearing-in gaffe



The placement of the preposition "faithfully" is another part of the
problem.  The official text of the President's oath (in the
Constitution) reads:

"I 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."

On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 7:28 AM, Steve Gabosch <stevegabosch@me.com> wrote:
> I listened to the videos of the inauguration speech and the swearing in
> tonight.  Language gaffes can be fun to analyze.   I agree with Ageliki, the
> gaffe during the swearing-in was the justice's.  At, first, it does appear
> as Carol observed that Obama forgot his line, and secondly, as Ageliki
> observers, that the problem was the order of the word "faithfully."  It
> happens very fast.  But I don't think either of those are quite what
> happened, on closer examination.  A few looks at the short video seems to
> reveal what the precise problem was.
>
> 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!  --Ageliki
>>
>> Carol 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 our
>>> despicable 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 2605809
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>> Andy 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 Europe
>>>>>
>>>> too.
>>>>
>>>>> 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, Activity
>>>>> Cc: communication@ucsd.edu; Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition
>>>>> Internal List
>>>>> Subject: [xmca] A magic moment
>>>>>
>>>>> Dear Xmca-ers--
>>>>>
>>>>> Tonight is a magic moment. In the Los Angeles Times this morning there
>>>>> was
>>>>> an
>>>>> editorial "cartoon" that had a picture of the Calendar with Martin
>>>>> Luther
>>>>> King, on
>>>>> January 19th, pointing to the future-- of January 20th, when, Humanity
>>>>> willing, 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 participant
>>>>> in such an event. The site of Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen singing
>>>>> Arlo
>>>>> Guthrie's hymn
>>>>> to the promise of this troubled country with its checkered history in
>>>>> front
>>>>> 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. When
>>>>> I
>>>>> 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 returned
>>>>> from the USSR in 1963 and did not know enough to turn south from New
>>>>> York to
>>>>> be present in
>>>>> Washington for MLK's speech at the Lincoln memorial, but had to hear it
>>>>> while 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 unequal
>>>>> by the environment into which we are born, an environment that, in the
>>>>> general ideological-theoretical
>>>>> assumptions of xmca, is not forced upon human beings locked into an
>>>>> iron
>>>>> cage, 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 to
>>>>> celebrate and pray for the future, and to listen to Pete Seeger leading
>>>>> the
>>>>> 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
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>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> xmca mailing list
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> Andy Blunden http://home.mira.net/~andy/
>>>> <http://home.mira.net/%7Eandy/>+61 3 9380 9435
>>>> Skype andy.blunden
>>>> Hegel's Logic with a Foreword by Andy Blunden:
>>>> http://www.marxists.org/admin/books/index.htm
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> **********************************************
>> 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
>> **********************************************
>>
>>
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-- 
Matthew J. Brown -- Philosophy Ph.D. Student, UC, San Diego
USPS: 9500 Gilman Dr #0119, La Jolla CA 92093-0119
Web: http://thehangedman.com/philosophy -=- Email: mattbrown@ucsd.edu
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