Tomorrow's inaugural festivities will be ceremonial, but by constitutional mandate, both President Obama and Vice President Biden were officially sworn in today for their second terms.
Here's the president, taking the oath from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts:
And here's the vice president, taking the oath from Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor:
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Congratulations!
For what? More of the same, tired, partisanship? Obama claimed in 2008 that this would not be the case. Four years later, it remains. 3 years, 364 1/2 days and counting.
And we can thank a disloyal opposition for that. If the GOP had extended a hand, rather than just a middle finger, things would be different.
I hope and pray that BOTH sides will grow up during the next 4 years and put party politics aside and create a mutually acceptable solution to the problems we face as a country.
just saying...
I'm betting the Republicans will keep this up to the 2014 elections, in the hopes they will win some seats back in the House, and get a majority in the Senate.
It's going to get ugly, before it gets better.
It is nice to see that Stormguy has made some sense for a change, but I think Knobson is more accurate in his statement.
Thanks Mom...I think.
just saying..
Congrats President Obama. Now let's focus on fixing the unemployment situation.
On a side note, it looks like I'm not the only pro-gun progressive in the world.
http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/01/16/confessions-of-a-gun-shop-owner/
Yes, congrats in order for another historic day.
On 21 January 2013, our country will make history. What a glorious day for the United States of America! Even though President Obama and Vice President Biden were sworn in on 20 January, 21 January is more than just a big fancy formality and it should be revered by all American’s; here’s the spoiler, all of us will not respect and enjoy this Inauguration. “We the People….” have been divided by a minority. This minority is rich and powerful, don’t underestimate them but, at the same time let's acknowledge our own strength, as a People. “We shall overcome….”; words by which to live and remember on this day of multiple celebrations. Um… here’s a suggestion, if you can’t be there, don’t watch it on Fox; is Fox going to broadcast the Inauguration, maybe not. After all, it is their right, protected by The 1st Amendment. Of course, Fox News will Monday Morning Quarterback and make fun of the event, again, it is their Right.
Division: They GOP lost the better part of the election but, they continue with the same divide and conquer tactics and it is our fault. When a team as bad as Mitt Romney (John McCann picked Palin over Mitt, because McCann said that she was a better candidate for VP!) and Paul Ryan (A Congressman who successfully sponsored two Bills, in thirteen years, one Bill was to rename a Library!) can fool such a large percentage of the American people, of course they are going to continue, they don’t have anything else. When the Tea-liban works to bring down government, from within, by just saying “NO” to everything, we are in trouble! Hell, they even voted against a Bill that would help our Troops with their assimilation back into society; our Troops deserve better!
Their Plan: I just can't believe that the GOP's "Divide and Conquer" plan has worked so well; amazing what millions of dollars can buy. Did they accomplished it through the use of subliminal messages, did they bet on the total ignorance and/or stupidity of the American people, is it because they kept us busy worrying about our favorite sports team, caring more about what happens on Sunday than what happened on Nov 6, did they attacked our President with lies and innuendos, it's all of the above! They packaged up all of this and served it up as the most potent shot of “Heroin for the Masses", ever to be used against us!
What’s Next: It’s like a bad sitcom when Democrats agree with the Republicans and then the sponsor of a Bill, Mitch McConnell, panics and suggests a filibuster of his own Bill! Mitch actually sponsored a Bill, I thought that his number one job was to get President Obama out of the White House; oh never mind, that didn’t work for him; moving on to other business. It is laughable, well if it were not so sad, it would be laughable!
We have a Justice of the Supreme Court saying that being gay is as immoral as murder; well, thank you Father Scalia! So, is it really that much of a stretch to believe that Justice Scalia uses the same logic in equating the criminal intent of murder with that of homosexuality (Using the word logic in the same sentence as Scalia, Right!)!
Some people have say, things have changed. They say that there is hope… I have to call BS on that! The American people are the problem, our Congress does represent us. They are a cross-section of us; we are as stupid, ignorant, segmented, blind, abusive and as dysfunctional as the government which represents us. We Americans take the “fun” out of Dysfunctional! Checks and Balances, Three Branches, nice concept but in practice, it isn’t working. The White House cannot do it alone; our Congressmen need to believe that governing this Country is their number one job. When a Supreme Court Justice shows himself to be so totally biased, we (as in “We the People….”), should be able to stop him from abusing his power; it’s the Supreme Court, not a Supreme Being! Scalia has proven himself to be incapable of being impartial on the issue of same sex marriage, a subject so important to the spirit of the Constitution; if you don’t believe that the 9th Amendment covers this, then it is time (no, past time) to make it clear and put it in writing. In 1920, we had to add an Amendment in order to protect a woman’s right to vote ( #19); really, like that should have ever been in question, it took us that long to acknowledge this right. Oh, it gets better, in 1972, when a Bill was written to better define equal rights, well… that kind of stalled and it is still pending. Wow, if the Founding Fathers could see us now! You know what, forget about what I said, just go back to watching Fox News and kiss the rest of your brain cells goodbye!
Yes we have sad excuses for representation in Washington and State Capitols as well.
Marco,
Since President Obama received slightly more than 51% of the national vote, I think you need to repeat 6th grade math.
51.1% to 47.2%, 61.7% to 38.3% by electoral college. You're getting your facts from somewhere that can't count.
Thank you Booth.
Try every other source, including the official count. Nice try.
Obama final vote count: 62,615,406
Final total votes cast: 121,757,410
62,615,406 divided by 121,757,410 equals .5143, or 51.43% (technically, .51426, but two significant digits is probably more than your brains can handle anyway). So, it's even higher than my numbers earlier; sorry for giving you short shrift, Mr. President.
And the Washington Post is not the be-all, end-all for anything. I know you guys suck at Fox's teat so avidly that you can't imagine multi-source news, but try to join the rest of the civilized world.
Considering he won by a larger margin over Romney than anyone has won by in the last century, yep, it's a better mandate than Bush and the GOP claimed in 2004.
Does it seem like the VP oath is more wordy than the presidential oath?
What's up with that?
I think only the President's oath is set by the Constitution.
Article 2, section 1, clause 8:
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--"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."
I think all other oaths were and are invented by Congress based on the Presidential model.
So, Congress is too wordy?
The fascinating part of all this is Sotomayor telling Biden he couldn't get sworn in with the President because she had a book signing. That's disrespect.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/01/joe-biden-sworn-in-vp-second-term.html
shooter you wouldn't know what disrespect is and you prove it every time you post your nonsense whines.
Shooter,
Biden could have asked another Associate Justice to swear him in.
Since this marks the beginning of another 4 years of goading the GOP into self-destructive behavior, I doubt Vice-President minds.
I'd like to pose this question. When a sitting president and vice president are re-elected, is the oath necessary?
I've posed this to Jonathan Turley (Constitutional law professor at Georgetown) on his blog, but never saw a response.
Arguably, since the second term is a continuation of the first, I don't see how the oaths taken at the beginning of the first term expired at Noon today, and had to be reset.
Your turn -- any thoughts?
I believe the Constitution requires the President take the oath before he starts his second term, for it is distinct from the first.
(The President runs for reelection as a candidate for office and we do not hold a referendum on whether to replace the president. If we did hold a referendum, the ballot would be a two step process first asking whether to keep the current President, then asking who to replace him with if we throw him out -- kinda like an automatic recall.)
Here he goes again ! We were hoping for change but we got the wrong kind and too much of it. He will dance while America crumbles.
Poor billie belongs to the party that hasn't changed since Hoover took office whining about things not changing. Really billie you say nothings changed but the fact is things have changed dirty old white perverts can no longer win elections for the GOP which means that the GOP has to change their southern strategy, really billie thats change for you. Your so busy whining and crying that you missed the change.
Ugh. Again with the nonsense that has no basis in fact whatsoever.
If you blame Americas decline on homosexuals, abortions, sharia law, evolution, immigration, minorities, and the poor: Congratulations! You are what's wrong with this country.
Perfectly said CA, and that billihilli speaks for the right, who are wrong all the time! The crumble started with gw, and the reps have continue taking bits in to the cookie for the last 4 years by acting like traitor's and hostage takers.
They try to sound intelligent, but their words just prove who the idiots are.
and roberts absolutely NAILS the oath this time around!
Yeah, I wondered if he'd choke on it again this time.
Aren't Michelle and Jill beautiful?
The fact that we have hundreds of ethically challenged conservative representatives that want to collapse the economy again should make the President's job easier when each of the delusions are explained logically - the lies that they are using to exploit the mentally ill.
The next 2 years should be interesting.
One can only hope the above video evidence will finally curtail FOXNEWS analysts from denying the most recent election ended in President Barack Hussein Obama's victory!
But, hey, maybe this swearing of the oath of office was as faked as the moon landing was! -Kevo
OK, so let us speak to the utterly trivial: The BANGS.
I am someone who has had bangs of some form since I was little. There are some inbetween times (when I go a long time without a haircut) where I have to start parting the front, combing it to the side, exposing more forehead.
It is not a look that works well for me. Bangs do better. I might be described as a person with a fairly shallow forehead, and I'm a short person. Not having bangs doesn't ELONGATE me or anything like that, since roundish cheeks offset any elongating effects.
I know tall people with small heads, even when they come out as babies. My family runs toward pumpkin or basketball heads. Pumpkinhead was even my dad's nickname for me when I was baby (my brother was peanut, and he's taller than any of us). Hobbit heads on a short person, might be another way of thinking about it.
To make matters worse, I had such bad cowlicks, nothing my mother did while cutting my bangs ever left them straight. I feel so badly for her now. It wasn't her fault. My head has all these goofy hair-BOINKS in it.
Still, I look better with bangs than without them.
So, that said, I don't like Michelle Obama's bangs. Nope, not at all. Why would someone advise her to do that? They almost bisect her head! She has a really high forehead, and now her head looks like it is half bangs, with a face tucked down under them somewhere.
Michelle Obama is such an amazingly lovely person, she pulls your eyes away from other things in almost any picture you look at of her. Her eyes especially. What salon stylist said, "Oh, let's hide these beautiful eyes under a long and heavy layer of hair."?
She's also tall, and they make her look shorter. Dang, I'm bummed.
The country's misery, as of noon today, is half over!!
You mean we'll get rid of all the teatards elected in 2010 in 2014? Hot damn! Good news.
Oh, and by the way, Hillary 2016 is going to eat you losers for breakfast.
Where is Mitt Romney and please where is the tea party. Listen Folks conspiracy and hate is not good for any individual or organisation. Americans should come together and fix America for Americans and stop all these fights on everything. That is not Democracy it is the Democrazy of the Republican party. American deserve a better republican party than this losers running around Washington looking for who to fight with. Congratulations to the President of the United States of America. You are a good man. You are a wise man. Your Vice is good. You did not make a wrong choice chosen him. He is helping a lot. Thanks to your election campaigned team and thanks to the media house that is standing for the truth that cannot become by the republican liars. I am not from here but I understand very little and what is going on. It all between liars and their lies protecting their own only, and honest people trying to do good for all.
The Oaf is in office again. God help us.
The Oath of office again, Thank God!
Your mistake is the the oafs are rightwing members of congress.
No, the Oaf is term-limited out, after 8 years of wrecking things.
hooray!