First mistake made by No. 45 … er, 44 … or is it 43?
Barack Obama takes the presidential oath of office Jan. 20 from Chief Justice John Roberts.
During his inaugural address today, President Barack Obama opened with this piece of historical perspective:
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.
I thank President Bush for his service to our nation… (APPLAUSE) … as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.
Five sentences into the Obama presidency and we’ve already got a problem with simple mathematics.
Here’s video of the passage:
Barack Obama is the 43rd person to take the oath of office. Grover Cleveland was elected to two, non-consecutive terms to the office — once beginning in 1885 and once beginning in 1893. He’s the bookends to the term of Benjamin Harrison. He took the oath twice.
By the way, such an occurence couldn’t happen again. The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which took effect in 1951, not only imposed a limit of two terms on the presidency but also barred presidents from serving non-consecutive terms.
The president has trouble when it comes to addition. Remember when during the campaign he said he had visited 57 states, with one left to go?
Sources:
The New York Times, Jan. 20, 2009
Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address
McClatchy, Jan. 20, 2009
