No doubt in our mind that the first time Obama swore the oath of office, concluding it, "so help me God," at noon at the Capitol, it was valid and effective.Therefore, out of an abundance of caution, Justice Roberts should never have re-administered the oath of office to Barack Obama.
Talmudically, if indeed (as we believe) the first oath was valid, that second act would be a violation of the Third Commandment of the biblical Ten Commandments:
"You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name."
It would surely be taking the name of the Lord in vain if you did so repetitiously and unnecessarily in an obsessive, excessive and almost superstitious private reprise of the oath of office.
But that is exactly what they did.
And they call Roberts a religious conservative. Go figure.
Obama takes presidential oath - again
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts has administered the presidential oath of office to Barack Obama for a second time just to be on the safe side.
The unusual step came after Roberts flubbed the oath a bit on Tuesday, causing Obama to repeat the wording differently than as prescribed in the Constitution.
White House counsel Greg Craig said Obama took the oath from Roberts again out of an "abundance of caution."
The chief justice and the president handled the matter privately in the Map Room on Wednesday night.
2 comments:
B"H
3rd commandment is not a part of 7 Mitzvot Bnei Noah that apply to Obama.
The oath as prescribed in the Constitution merely says:
"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."
Since the second administration of the oath apparently wasn't recorded, we don't know for a fact that the President added the optional "So help me God" a second time. But in any event...
I enjoy your blog when I stumble on it through my Google "Teaneck" news alerts, but I have to say that this sort of legalistic (dare I say vain?) hair-splitting makes a Christian like me scratch his head. No, it wasn't necessary that President Obama say "so help me God" the second time; indeed, it wasn't necessary the first time as a matter of Constitutional law and may not have even been necessary as a matter of His Law. But even if he did say it a second time -- is it really in vain if he meant it just as sincerely?
Don't tell your wife you love her tonight. I'm sure you already covered off on that and you certainly wouldn't want to say it again in vain.
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