Do-over on oath, in case

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. apparently got it right on the second try.

Privately tonight in the White House, Roberts administered the presidential oath of office to Barack Obama for a second time. In public in front of a worldwide audience on Tuesday, Roberts flubbed the oath a bit, causing Obama to repeat the wording differently than as prescribed in the Constitution.

"We believe that the oath of office was administered effectively and that the President was sworn in appropriately yesterday. But the oath appears in the Constitution itself. And out of an abundance of caution, because there was one word out of sequence, Chief Justice Roberts administered the oath a second time," White House Counsel Greg Craig said in a statement.

According to the press pool report, Obama and Roberts met in the Map Room in White House shortly after 7:30.

"We decided it was so much fun," Obama joked while sitting on a couch and Roberts donned
his black robe.

"Are you ready to take the oath?" Roberts asked.

"I am, and we're going to do it very slowly," Obama replied.

After a flawless recitation, Roberts smiled and said, "Congratulations -- again."

Obama replied, "Thank you, sir."

Unlike the first time, Obama did not use a bible -- on Tuesday, he placed his left hand on the bible that Abraham Lincoln used for his inauguration -- but the oath was binding anyway

Two other previous presidents have repeated the oath because of similar issues, Calvin Coolidge and Chester A. Arthur, according to the Associated Press.