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*EDIT*

At 7:35pm EST, President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama took the oath of The Office of The President of The United States a second time - flawlessly reciting the oath, and cementing his status as the 44th President Of The United States. Gotta respect a person who respects the rule of law - this is a really good sign.

*EDIT*

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Allow me to say at the outset that I'm pleased as punch that the people voted to have as their leader Mr. Barack Obama.

But he's not the President, at least not as of this writing, at a little past 2pm PST on Wednesday, January 21st.

If I understand the Constitution Of The United States as clearly as I think I do, here's the deal:

Article II, Section 1, Clause 8 says, "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."

Do to the unparalleled bout of stage-fright that consumed Chief Justice Roberts, the exact words that Mr. Obama uttered were,

"I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will execute...[pause while the Chief Justice fumbles] ...the Office of President of the United States faithfully and will, to the the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Certain folks will immediately point you to the 20th Amendment, Section 1, which reads:

"Section 1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin."

Here's my argument (which is the argument of some others, so I'm not alone here,) - while the 20th Amendment indicates a term, it refers to the person who is President. And you can't be the President until you've been sworn into that office, and that involves saying the correct oath. Article II clearly uses the word "shall," in case there are any dissenters at this point.

Obviously there's no precedent for the oath of President being muffed. Presidents Coolidge and Arthur took the oath twice, but neither was required, they were both, essentially, given a formal swearing in for show.

So what's the next step? My opinion is that Mr. Obama needs to have the oath administered again properly and with due haste. If I were an arch-conservative, I would be waiting in the tall grass, ready to file suit against the first most-hot button topic that Mr. Obama has taken action on (like shutting down Gitmo).

And to anyone who is thinking that I'm making too big a deal out of this, allow me to respond: We are a nation of laws. The law *makes* us a nation, a united group. We all, *all* of us, accept the Constitution as inviolate. And while I am a fan of the defiance of certain laws, there's nothing unjust about the oath. At the highest levels of authority, it is imperative that the law be followed to the letter. For those who have forgotten the last eight years, allow me to repeat, it is *imperative* that they follow the letter of the law.

Thank you for your time.