Enoch said:
I noticed in the second swearing in Obama did not bring a Bible. So it was done without a Bible. It seems it was a pretty big deal to do the retake so why leave the Bible out? Interesting.
==Let's go to the Constitutional and Biblical facts before we try to make something out of nothing.
1. We are
not to swear on the Bible. Everytime a person places their left hand on the Bible, raises their right hand, and swears to anything they are disobeying Scripture (Matt 23:20-22, Jms 5:12). Christians should affirm without placing their hand on Scripture. The Bible says "your yes is to be yes, and your no, no". How many people have brought judgment on themselves by swearing on the Bible? Only God can answer that. When you go to court for jury duty, for testimony, or if you are elected to an office, you are to affirm and not swear. The Constitution of the United States makes allowance for this in Article 2 Section 1.
2. The Constitution does not require any sort of book, much less the Bible, be used at a 'swearing in'. All it says is:
"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."
The phrase "So help me God" was added by President Washington as was the Bible. However neither are required by law and Biblically it is better not be swearing on anything (much less the Bible).
3. Barack Obama was President of the United States at noon on January 20, 2009. That is clearly stated in Amendment 20:
"The terms of the President and Vice-President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January...and the terms of their successors shall then begin"
The swearing in is required by the Constitution but, with the 20th Amendment, the President-Elect becomes President at noon on the 20th. So technically Mr. Obama was President before he took his oath since it was after the noon time when he was sworn in.
Other points of importance:
1. Justice Roberts did not use notes and therefore messed up. A man in his position should know never to try speaking at such an event without notes (nerves can cause the best to mess up). The mistake was with Justice Roberts and not Mr. Obama.
2. The redo was done to "be on the safe side". They understand that some Republican political hacks would try to make it an issue at some point. Therefore the redo was the safe and right thing to do.
3. I would not read anything into him not using a Bible. It was not an official ceremony, just a redo for political/legal purposes. Therefore a Bible was not required or demanded.
4. Mr. Obama is President of the United States of America.
