The Inauguration

[Judy G. Russell]

A full account with more photos is here (http://jgr2.jgrussell.com/blog/?p=366) but here's a sampler for those who want to know what it was like on and around the National Mall yesterday:

1. Crowded by the time the sun was up

http://photos.jgrussell.com/photos/459255957_pxBvd-X3.jpg

2. Security everywhere you looked

http://photos.jgrussell.com/photos/459256443_EC8qB-X3.jpg

3. Whole families coming to watch in the cold

http://photos.jgrussell.com/photos/459255991_CAoCQ-X3.jpg

4. People trying to stay warm

http://photos.jgrussell.com/photos/459289393_QyxJc-X3.jpg

5. Enthusiasm despite the security and the cold

http://photos.jgrussell.com/photos/459256029_KK982-X3.jpg

6. "I, Barack Hussein Obama..."

http://photos.jgrussell.com/photos/459256092_CFTN8-X3.jpg

7. And the minute the oath was over the crowd went wild

http://photos.jgrussell.com/photos/459256114_fcNZB-X3.jpg

Even afterwards, the Capitol looked terrific all decked out

http://photos.jgrussell.com/photos/459256176_YTthp-X3.jpg

[Lindsey]

Oh, wow. Those are magnificent! The NYT was accepting uploads of reader photos, if you're interested.

1. Crowded by the time the sun was up

One of the NPR correspondents said that there was rush-hour-like traffic goind into Washington at 2:30 a.m.!!

2. Security everywhere you looked

The guard on the right hand side reminds me of my Ken doll from my tender years, whose arms always fell off after you put his coat on, and were left dangling awkwardly from the rest of his body. What Barbie ever saw in him...

[Lindsey]

By the way, you'll appreciate this, I think:

Latest joke going around UVa Law School: How many presidents of the Harvard Law Review does it take to screw up an oath of office? (The answer, of course, being "two.")

(John Roberts was not actually president of the Harvard Law Review; he was managing editor. But close enough.)

[Mike]

A masterpiece, as usual!

[Judy G. Russell]

The guard on the right hand side reminds me of my Ken doll from my tender years, whose arms always fell off after you put his coat on, and were left dangling awkwardly from the rest of his body.LOL! I think the poor guy had so many layers on, he couldn't get his arm closer to his body.

[Judy G. Russell]

Latest joke going around UVa Law School: How many presidents of the Harvard Law Review does it take to screw up an oath of office? (The answer, of course, being "two.")That's funny. The NY Post headlined Roberts as the "oaf of office." Poor guy. What a dumb thing to do...

[Judy G. Russell]

A masterpiece, as usual!Thanks, Mike!

[ktinkel]

LOL! I think the poor guy had so many layers on, he couldn't get his arm closer to his body.Yeah. He reminded me of ads that ran years (decades!) ago for lightweight down snowsuits for little kids.

The tagline was something like: How can he make a snowman if he can’t even lift his arms?

[ktinkel]

Wonderful shots. Thanks.

[Judy G. Russell]

Yeah. He reminded me of ads that ran years (decades!) ago for lightweight down snowsuits for little kids. The tagline was something like: How can he make a snowman if he can’t even lift his arms?ROFL! Yeah, I'm not sure how protected I feel by someone who can hardly move! Then again I saw a few officers with virtually no winter gear at all (or who were from places like Florida!) who wouldn't have been able to protect anybody since they were frozen solid!

[Judy G. Russell]

Wonderful shots. Thanks.Thanks for the kind words!

[Lindsey]

LOL! I think the poor guy had so many layers on, he couldn't get his arm closer to his body.

Which is exactly the way Ken always looked, except that eventually, his arms were hanging out of his sleeves up to the elbow. :mad:

[Lindsey]

That's funny. The NY Post headlined Roberts as the "oaf of office." Poor guy. What a dumb thing to do...

And Josh Marshall says a contact of his told him that Roberts had been practicing for weeks...

You know, I really do feel for the guy, because I know only too well how your mind can go completely blank in circumstances like that and you almost forget your own name. But I can't think of too many people who would benefit more from a little dose of humility.

[Judy G. Russell]

And Josh Marshall says a contact of his told him that Roberts had been practicing for weeks... You know, I really do feel for the guy, because I know only too well how your mind can go completely blank in circumstances like that and you almost forget your own name. But I can't think of too many people who would benefit more from a little dose of humility.Ditto on all counts.

[ktinkel]

ROFL! Yeah, I'm not sure how protected I feel by someone who can hardly move! Then again I saw a few officers with virtually no winter gear at all (or who were from places like Florida!) who wouldn't have been able to protect anybody since they were frozen solid!NPR interviewed some players in a bagpipe band, wearing kilts. Asked if they were cold, the guy said “This is what we do!”

When I was a kid in Alaska, we wore snow pants under our skirts, then shed them at our lockers. But we were girls …

[ktinkel]

I can't think of too many people who would benefit more from a little dose of humility.I can. But most of them just recently left office!

Is it always the Chief Justice at the president’s swearing-in?

[Judy G. Russell]

NPR interviewed some players in a bagpipe band, wearing kilts. Asked if they were cold, the guy said “This is what we do!” Any job description that includes freezing is not one I'd agree to!

When I was a kid in Alaska, we wore snow pants under our skirts, then shed them at our lockers. But we were girls …Smart girls...

[Judy G. Russell]

Is it always the Chief Justice at the president’s swearing-in?Traditionally and historically yes. It isn't necessary, but it's traditional. Some exceptions:

George Washington was sworn in twice by judges who were NOT Chief Justice. For his first term, he was sworn in by Robert Livingston, Chancellor of State of New York, and for his second term by William Cushing, Associate Justice of Supreme Court.

John Tyler was sworn in by William Cranch, Chief Judge of U.S. Circuit Court (on the death of William H. Harrison).

Millard Filmore was sworn in by William Cranch, Chief Judge of U.S. Circuit Court (on the death of Zachary Taylor).

Chester A. Arthur was sworn in twice: he was sworn in at his NYC residence by John R. Brady, Justice of the New York State Supreme Court on Sept. 20, 1881, and two days later was sworn in again by Morrison R. Waite, Chief Justice (on death of James Garfield).

Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in by John R. Hazel, U.S. District Judge for Western District of New York (on death of William McKinley).

Calvin Coolidge was sworn in by John C. Coolidge, his father, a Notary Public (on death of Warren G. Harding).

And Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in by Sarah T. Hughes, U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Texas (on death of John F. Kennedy).

[Lindsey]

Is it always the Chief Justice at the president’s swearing-in?

It doesn't have to be, but over the years I think that has become the tradition at an official inauguration. George Washington, though, was sworn in by a New York state official in 1789. And, of course, when a president dies in office, any convenient judge is called in to administer the oath to the successor. (Calvin Coolidge was sworn in by his father, a notary public. Incidently, though his mother's Bible was "at hand," Coolidge wrote that "t was not officially used, as it is not the practice in Vermont or Massachusetts to use a Bible in connection with the administration of an oath." So take that, folks at Fox News, who are now saying that Obama has still not been officially sworn in, as the second ceremony used no Bible.)

I was just reading a NYT OpEd (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/opinion/22pinker.html?em) that was entitled "Oaf of Office" just like the headline Judy cited from the NY Post. It was by a psych professor at Harvard who is also chairman of the usage panel of [I]The American Heritage Dictionary. His contention (and I think he may be onto something) is that Roberts's stumble, despite weeks of practice, was the result of his reflexive pedantry about grammar, and a hangup about split infinitives in particular. (Apparently, he has been known to alter quotations in his legal opinions to make them conform to his idea of proper grammar.) So now I say that a very public stumble was only just deserts for being such a prig.

[ktinkel]

Thanks. I was thinking maybe Obama was being a little mischievous in having Roberts. But if it is tradition, then I guess we shall never know.

I liked “Oaf of Office,” too, and came away with the same impression. But again, who knows?

[Jeff]

It doesn't have to be, but over the years I think that has become the tradition at an official inauguration.

I was the Court Clerk of Division Two of the Court of Appeal in San Francisco. That was a Presiding and two Associate Justices. I was married by all three of them standing in front of us, and you can't get much more married than that, except only my Presiding Justice got to kiss my bride.

- Jeff

[ktinkel]

Thank you! The point is the oath, not the oath-officiant.

Makes sense.

[Lindsey]

I was the Court Clerk of Division Two of the Court of Appeal in San Francisco. That was a Presiding and two Associate Justices. I was married by all three of them standing in front of us, and you can't get much more married than that, except only my Presiding Justice got to kiss my bride.

Plenty of unimpeachable witnesses, too!

[Lindsey]

I liked “Oaf of Office,” too, and came away with the same impression. But again, who knows?

Turns out it's not the first time an oath has been re-administered. When Warren Harding died, VP Calvin Coolidge was visiting his parents in Vermont. His father administered the oath of office, but his father was not a judge, or even a justice of the peace, just a notary public, and there was some question as to whether he had the authority to swear in anyone except Vermont state officials, so the oath was re-administered to Coolidge in Washington by a federal judge.

Chester A. Arthur, who also became president after an assassination (of James A. Garfield), was sworn in privately by the Chief Justice of the NY Supreme Court, and again in Washington by the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.

And apparently ex-president William Howard Taft, when serving as chief justice, botched the oath when he administered it to Herbert Hoover. This was in the day before the person taking the oath actually repeated the oath; the person administering it would start, "Do you, so-and-so, solemnly swear to...." and the oath taker would simply say "I do.") Taft use the phrasing "... preserve, maintain, and defend" the Constitution rather than "... preserve, protect, and defend." Apparently nobody noticed until an 8th-grade schoolgirl, who had been listening over the radio, wrote to Taft to point it out. He brushed it off, but the girl refused to let it go, the newspapers got involved, and reporters dug up recordings proving that she was correct. Taft was forced to concede the error, but said he thought it unimportant, so in that case there was no do-over.

[ktinkel]

Interesting — thanks. Weren’t there also one or two who affirmed?

[Judy G. Russell]

Interesting — thanks. Weren’t there also one or two who affirmed?Franklin Pierce did. There are reports that Hoover was going to, since he was a Quaker, but apparently the newspaper accounts of the time say he swore.

[ktinkel]

Franklin Pierce did. There are reports that Hoover was going to, since he was a Quaker, but apparently the newspaper accounts of the time say he swore.Wonder what would happen today if a president were to affirm — especially an Obama-esque president.

Might be a hanging offense! <g>

[Judy G. Russell]

Wonder what would happen today if a president were to affirm — especially an Obama-esque president. Might be a hanging offense! <g>It would certainly send the religious right over the edge, if they're not there already!

[Lindsey]

Franklin Pierce did. There are reports that Hoover was going to, since he was a Quaker, but apparently the newspaper accounts of the time say he swore.

Hmmmm, but I had read that he took the oath by affirmation. Recordings evidently exist, or at least did at one time, so it should be possible to find out for sure one way or the other, but it might take slogging through a mountain of tapes at the National Archives to find out. :eek:

[Lindsey]

It would certainly send the religious right over the edge, if they're not there already!

And yet, the provision to affirm rather than swear is there precisely because of fairly common religious objections to swearing oaths.

[Judy G. Russell]

Hmmmm, but I had read that he took the oath by affirmation. Recordings evidently exist, or at least did at one time, so it should be possible to find out for sure one way or the other, but it might take slogging through a mountain of tapes at the National Archives to find out. :eek:Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_office_of_the_President_of_the_United_Stat es) says: "In 1929, Time magazine reported that the Chief Justice began the oath uttering, "You, Herbert Hoover, do you solemnly swear . . ." Hoover replied with a simple "I do"."

[Judy G. Russell]

And yet, the provision to affirm rather than swear is there precisely because of fairly common religious objections to swearing oaths.Yeah, but with the group we're discussing, if it isn't among their religious beliefs, it's wrong.

[Lindsey]

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_office_of_the_President_of_the_United_Stat es) says: "In 1929, Time magazine reported that the Chief Justice began the oath uttering, "You, Herbert Hoover, do you solemnly swear . . ." Hoover replied with a simple "I do"."

I think I'll take Time's word for it, since I'm not inclined to try to find the original recording! I guess someone must have figured that since he was a Quaker, he must have used an affirmation instead, and it eventually got reported that he actually had done that. But I guess that's the way it goes with oral history.

[Peter Creasey]

here's a sampler

Judy etal, How about this...


WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says one of its spinoff
technologies from the Mars rovers was used to capture a unique image
of President Barack Obama's inauguration.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said photographer
David Bergman used the Gigapan camera system to generate an image
that's a combination of 220 images with an overall size of 1,474
megapixels.

"The Gigapan system is a NASA spinoff technology that can capture
thousands of digital images and weave them into a uniform
high-resolution picture of more than a billion pixels," the space
agency said.

The technology is the product of a two-year collaboration between
NASA and Carnegie Mellon University. The Mars rovers Spirit and
Opportunity have used the Gigapan system to explore the Red Planet
for more than five years.

The image is extremely detailed and can be easily searched and
magnified using on-screen tool s. It is available at

<http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php>
http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=15374.

[Judy G. Russell]

I guess that's the way it goes with oral history.As you and I have both discovered with family oral histories! I mean, just how many "there were three brothers..." stories are there anyway???

[Judy G. Russell]

Judy etal, How about this...That was one of the coolest things I ever saw. It's just wonderful what technology can do!!

[Lindsey]

I mean, just how many "there were three brothers..." stories are there anyway???

At least one for every family!

[Lindsey]

It's just wonderful what technology can do!!

And also just a little bit scary!

[Judy G. Russell]

And also just a little bit scary!You're not still thinking you have any privacy left after the Bush years, are you?

[rlohmann]

Were you there?

[Judy G. Russell]

Were you there?And this question is directed to whom? If me, answer is yes. See here (http://www.tapcis.com/forums/showpost.php?p=51714&postcount=1).

[Lindsey]

You're not still thinking you have any privacy left after the Bush years, are you?

Please allow me to retain some vestige of my fondest illusions...

[Mike]

You're not still thinking you have any privacy left after the Bush years, are you?
On an episode of The Simpsons, the townspeople nominated eight-year-old Ralph Wiggum for president in the primary.
Lisa: And Ralph is only eight years old. It says in the Constitution you have to be 35.
Bart: The Constitution? I'm pretty sure the Patriot Act killed it to ensure our freedoms.

[Judy G. Russell]

Please allow me to retain some vestige of my fondest illusions...Oh I'm sorry. And yes, Ms. Virginian, there is a Santa Claus.

[ndebord]

Traditionally and historically yes. It isn't necessary, but it's traditional. Some exceptions:

George Washington was sworn in twice by judges who were NOT Chief Justice. For his first term, he was sworn in by Robert Livingston, Chancellor of State of New York, and for his second term by William Cushing, Associate Justice of Supreme Court.

John Tyler was sworn in by William Cranch, Chief Judge of U.S. Circuit Court (on the death of William H. Harrison).

Millard Filmore was sworn in by William Cranch, Chief Judge of U.S. Circuit Court (on the death of Zachary Taylor).

Chester A. Arthur was sworn in twice: he was sworn in at his NYC residence by John R. Brady, Justice of the New York State Supreme Court on Sept. 20, 1881, and two days later was sworn in again by Morrison R. Waite, Chief Justice (on death of James Garfield).

Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in by John R. Hazel, U.S. District Judge for Western District of New York (on death of William McKinley).

Calvin Coolidge was sworn in by John C. Coolidge, his father, a Notary Public (on death of Warren G. Harding).

And Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in by Sarah T. Hughes, U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Texas (on death of John F. Kennedy).

Judy,

And The chief justice of the United States swore-in Johnson a few hours after Lincoln's death, Stanton running the country in the interim and starting the hounds out after Booth and his fellow conspirators.

[Judy G. Russell]

And The chief justice of the United States swore-in Johnson a few hours after Lincoln's death, Stanton running the country in the interim and starting the hounds out after Booth and his fellow conspirators.Interesting! I was only listing the ones sworn in by somebody other than the CJ.

[ndebord]

Interesting! I was only listing the ones sworn in by somebody other than the CJ.

Judy,

I'm sure there are other interesting stories there that I don't know anything about.

[Judy G. Russell]

I'm sure there are other interesting stories there that I don't know anything about.There was a sign I saw once in the State Department that I wanted to steal... er... borrow. It read: "The list grows ever longer of things about which I know absolutely nothing."

[ndebord]

There was a sign I saw once in the State Department that I wanted to steal... er... borrow. It read: "The list grows ever longer of things about which I know absolutely nothing."

Judy,

You don't have to as it is merely a redo of Socrates: "As for me, all I know is that I know nothing."

[Judy G. Russell]

You don't have to as it is merely a redo of Socrates: "As for me, all I know is that I know nothing."Nah, I don't put myself in that category. I do know something about some things... but not as much as I'd like!