The next moment of hysteria

He made it. There was no last minute coup by Cheney or other catastrophe to bar the change of power. The world is once again safe for democracy. I notice that the sun seems brighter, the air sweeter, and food tastes better since noon (eastern time). Clever Wife and I watched the transfer of power and then turned the TV off. The aimless blithering by talking heads was a little much for us.
There was an odd moment when Obama stepped up to give the oath of office with Chief Justice Roberts. They had trouble getting started. After giving his name, it seemed like Obama wasn't sure what the words were and was waiting for extra prompting from Roberts. Then they talked over each other before finishing the oath without additional glitches. That impression is doubly odd when you consider how well Obama usually so well prepared in public. After all, the oath is only thirty-five words long*; how hard is that to memorize? In fact, the fault was not with Obama; it was Roberts' fumble that created the confusion. Obama's pause was to give Roberts a chance to correct himself. The correct oath begins:

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States...

What Roberts said was:

I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully...

The complete exchange (according to ABC news) went like this:

ROBERTS: I, Barack Hussein Obama...

OBAMA: I, Barack...

ROBERTS: ... do solemnly swear...

OBAMA: I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear...

ROBERTS: ... that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully...

OBAMA: ... that I will execute...

ROBERTS: ... faithfully the office of president of the United States...

OBAMA: ... the office of president of the United States faithfully...

ROBERTS: ... and will to the best of my ability...

OBAMA: ... and will to the best of my ability...

ROBERTS: ... preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

OBAMA: ... preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

ROBERTS: So help you God?

OBAMA: So help me God.

I'm dwelling on this at length because I think we'll be hearing a lot about it from far right bloggers and the conspiracy and militia crowds. Because of the fumble, many of them will, no doubt, claim that Obama isn't really the president. The militia crowd is especially prone to according a near magical power to words. One of the arguments they make about why the income tax is illegal is based on a claim that the texts of the Sixteenth Amendment passed by the various states didn't all have the exact same punctuation. Another argument--the one where they claim to be something called "sovereign citizens"--rests upon the idea that reciting certain words can exempt you from laws you don't like. I'm not sure what implication they will draw from the idea that Obama isn't the president. If he is not, does that mean Bush is still president, or does it mean Biden is? Will some claim that we have no president? Would that mean the central government has ceased to exist? Will the Malkinites' heads explode? Does the Pope poo in the woods? Stay tuned for further developments.
* Not counting the new president's name or "...so help me God." "So help me God" is not part of the Constitutionally mandated oath. The founding generation was careful about avoiding such blatant subversions of the separation of church and state. It's something that later generations have added and made traditional as part of the creeping religiousization of our national rites and symbols.