(no subject)

[serene]

By the way, did it bug anyone else when Obama said "Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath"?

(My count is 43, but I could be wrong.)

Comments

[hel]

I think he was counting himself? Or did one president not take the oath and I'm unaware?
Oh, right, Cleveland was non consecutive so took it twice. Got it.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Grover Cleveland was president twice, with another guy in between, so while there have been 44 presidencies, it's just 43 people.

[nellorat.livejournal.com]

Heraclitus--you can never swear in the same president twice, for he is not the same man and it is not the same presidency.

Ha hah.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Then it's way MORE than 44, because others have been president twice or even three times. :-)

[bschilli.livejournal.com]

It bothers me a bit, but it's an annoyance that's not going away. The official list of Presidents has Grover Cleveland as both twenty-second and twenty-fourth President.

[jmkelly.livejournal.com]

Maybe one of them changed so much he was a different person the second time he did it.

[dr-brat.livejournal.com]

I missed it completely until you brought it up and I'm willing to bet that had he said 43, most people would have been completely confounded. Sometimes it's better to be inexact for the sake of being understood (says the woman who had to figure that out in order to be an effective teacher, ironically enough).

[bafleyanne.livejournal.com]

I suspect this is why it was done that way. Still I would have preferred "Forty-four times, Americans have taken..."

[dr-brat.livejournal.com]

But that would have been completely incorrect. The oath of office has been taken far more times than that.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Yep.

[cantkeepsilent.livejournal.com]

I imagine he was counting Jefferson Davis.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Smart-ass.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Yes, I noticed it, and it didn't bother me at all. I took it as shorthand for "Forty-four times Americans have taken the presidential oath." (I don't remember if a reelected president takes it again; if so, my theory is wrong.) But i agree with the comment that people would have been confused if he had said, "Forty-three." He is, after president #44.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

"Forty-four times Americans have taken the presidential oath."

Nope. :-)

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

So they do have to take it when they're reelected?

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Yep.

[karenthecroccy.livejournal.com]

hah! yes :)

[someotherguy.livejournal.com]

Maybe He's counting Bush and his even more evil android clone as two people. But I guess then he'd count the Rondroid as a separate person too.

[firecat]

May this be his biggest mistake.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

As we used to say in church, Amen and Amen.

[snippy]

As I understand it, Taft "affirmed" rather than taking an oath.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Isn't it still called an oath, though?

[snippy]

Hmm...really not sure. I think you have to "swear an oath" but it must count to affirm.