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This is not a big deal. Roberts screwed it up first. If we expect presidents to know it by heart, then why do we need anyone to stand up there and say the words before he does? Why can’t the president just recite the oath on his own?

Of course it's a big deal. Obama knew it was wrong. Yet he repeated the error. He didn't show courage by saying the right oath. Roberts could have said anything and Obama SHOULD have said the right thing. If a President is expect to preserve and defend the Constitution he should KNOW what is in the Constitution.

“If a President is expect to preserve and defend the Constitution he should KNOW what is in the Constitution.”

So should the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, especially since we have informally deemed the judiciary the final authority on the Constitution.

here’s the thing. It’s just a ceremony. Plenty of people who’ve recited the oath perfectly have gone on to violate various passages of, if not the spirit of, the Constitution. The reverse is probably also true.

Oh, and I’d like to say something to anyone who might criticize my dipiction of it as “just a ceremony” by saying it’s part of the Constitution and if we ignore one part of the Constitution it endangers all the other parts, and so on. The Constitution does not say that the president has to be sworn in by the Chief Justice on the steps of the Capitol building (or wherever) in front of millions of people. All it says is that he has to take the oath.

To my mind, that means he could say it to himself as he’s drifting off to sleep. But no, these politicians have to makie a big display of everything, and we all have to pause in the middle of our lives to listen to them say a sentence.

Of course it's a big deal. Obama knew it was wrong. Yet he repeated the error. He didn't show courage by saying the right oath.

Were the words or the meaning of the oath changed?

No. The order of the words was changed.

Does "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America" have more meaning or any different meaning than "To the flag of the United States of America, I pledge allegiance"?

If you want to be ultra-picky about it, the phrase "so help me God" is NOT in the Constitution. Does that make all those oaths taken by all those Presidents that said "so help me God" as part of their oath "wrong"?

Obama did not publicly humiliate the conservative Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court on a live, worldwide TV audience of hundreds of millions and, frankly, IMHO, that showed class.

If we are going to criticize Obama, it should be for serious issues. To the rest of the country outside of our FR echo chamber, criticizing Obama for switching the order of the words without, in any way, changing the meaning, scores points for Obama and makes us look petty.