Obama, Justice Roberts turn oath into tongue twister

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., swearing in a new president for the first time, stumbled Tuesday over the opening words of the oath of office. President Obama, realizing the minor miscue, paused and then followed the chief justice in repeating the right words slightly out of order.

The presidential oath comes directly from the Constitution. It says: “I do solemnly swear 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.”

But when Roberts administered the oath, he misplaced the word “faithfully.” The second clause as read by Roberts became, “that I will execute the office to the president of the United States faithfully. . . .”

Roberts tried to correct himself, but he still got it slightly wrong, saying, “faithfully the office of the president of the United States. . . .”

Repeating the chief justice’s original but flawed version, Obama said, “the office of president of the United States faithfully. . . .”

From there, they got back on track.

Roberts closed with the words, “So help you God.”

“So help me God,” Obama said.

Those words were not included in the constitutional oath, but they have become part of the presidential tradition. They were believed to have been uttered by George Washington, although historians say there is no documentary proof of that.

Trivia buffs also may say Obama made a slight error when he began his inauguration address by saying, “Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.”

Thanks to Grover Cleveland, counting the number of presidents can be complicated.

Obama is considered the 44th president, having followed George W. Bush, who was known in his own house as “43.” This distinguished him from his father, George H.W. Bush, the 41st president.

But those numbers depend on counting Cleveland twice.

He is the only person to serve two nonconsecutive terms. He was Democratic governor of New York in 1884 when he was elected as the 22nd president. Four years later, the Tammany machine in New York City turned against him and cost him reelection. Though he won by 100,000 popular votes, he lost in the electoral college in 1888 to Republican Benjamin Harrison. Biding his time, Cleveland ran and won the White House again in 1892. He was inaugurated as the 24th president.

By that standard, Obama is the 43rd person to be president and the 43rd to take the inaugural oath, but he serves as the 44th president of the United States.

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david.savage@latimes.com