Oath, shmoath! Obama’s the new prez

So did any of you catch the bungled presidential oath in today’s Inauguration Day ceremony?

Surely there will be those conspiracy theorists who will allege that Chief Justice Roberts purposefully misspoke or that Barack Obama is not officially president. Neither is correct.

In terms of the first point:

(…) shaking hands before a congressional luncheon of pheasant and duck in Statuary Hall of the Capitol, Roberts chatted briefly with Obama - observers reported that the chief justice apparently allowed that he was to the blame for the missteps.

In terms of the latter point, Amendment 20, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution states:

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.

Though the oath of office was misspoken and was done at 12:03pm EST, Barack Obama became the 44th president of the U.S. earlier today.

You may now remove your tin foil hats.

(Hat tip: Wonkette).

Online Sources- YouTube, Wonkette, National Archives