What a historic moment we have all just borne witness to. Our first African-American president. How far we have come in the last half-century. But I think there is more presidential history in Tuesday's inauguration than we realize.
We begin in the same place all discussions of the American presidency ought to begin: the Constitution. Article II, Section 1 clearly states:
"In case of the removal of the president from office, or of his death, resignation or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the vice president, and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the president and vice president, declaring what officer shall then act as president, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a president shall be elected..."
At noon Jan. 20, 2009, George W. Bush's term in office ended (Amendment 20, Section 1). Unfortunately, although Biden had taken his oath by that point, Obama had not. The Constitution also requires of the president in Article II, Section 1:
"Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:-'I do solemnly swear (or affirm) 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.'"
We can therefore safely assume that Barack Obama did not become our president until he took said oath. Because he did not fulfill this obligation as outlined in the Constitution (the very first section of the Constitution, mind you!) until 12:05 p.m., the Constitutional chain of command clearly delegated the office of the president to Joe Biden. Thus, the 44th president of the United States served a five-minute term and immediately relinquished power to the 45th president, Barack Obama.
Thus, the historic nature of this inauguration was amplified as we witnessed not only history's first African-American presidency, but also history's shortest presidency.
What's more, because of Chief Justice John Roberts' flubbing of the oath, Obama did not fulfill his constitutional obligation until Wednesday, when Roberts administered the oath again. But on Tuesday, instead of saying, "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States...," Obama said, "I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully." It's strange that even though Obama and Roberts recognized the mistake, they managed to postpone the correct administration of the oath until after, while acting as president, Obama halted the military tribunals at Guantanamo and increased access to formerly classified documents. There's a word for making military-related decisions without the authority granted by Constituion: a coup d'etat.
Additionally, there is some dispute over whether Joe Biden even took his oath in time for the Constitutionally-delineated requirement. By some accounts, he finished taking his oath at 12:01 p.m., one minute after the sitting president and vice president had already vacated their posts. Thus, with no president or vice president, the next step in the chain of command, according to the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, is the Speaker of the House (President Pelosi?!?!). Fortunately, she needed to resign from her position before assuming the presidency. Next, the command devolves to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate (President ROBERT C. BYRD?!?!?!). Again, the rule that he must resign from his position in the Senate spared us a Byrd administration. Therefore, the role of acting president between noon on Tuesday and 12:01 p.m. on Tuesday went to the sitting Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice-our first African-American president.
Thus in a historic day, we witnessed the first African-American president, the first female president, the shortest presidency, the second-shortest presidency, the second African-American president and a coup d'etat. Historic indeed.
Although at the end of the day, none of this actually carries any weight, it's a much more interesting look at the inauguration than I've seen anywhere else.
Danny Lewin is a Trinity junior. His column runs on Thursdays.
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