President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were sworn into their second terms in office earlier today in private ceremonies. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath to the president in the White House about 11:55 a.m. while Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor gave Biden his oath as Foreigner’s “Feels Like The First Time” blared from subwoofers about 8 a.m. at the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Obama took the oath with his hand on a bible owned by first lady Michelle Obama’s family. The bible was a Mother’s Day gift from Michelle Obama’s father, Fraser Robinson III, to his mother in 1958, according to pool reports.
The president and chief justice also took care not to repeat their very public blunder of four years ago, when they “>botched the words to the oath of office and had to repeat it later. The moment was not lost on Sasha Obama, who ribbed her father on getting it right this time around. “Good job, Daddy. You didn’t mess up!” she joked.
Tomorrow’s festivities and speechifying are designed to Heal Us All (we’ll be covering it here) but the oath must be administered on the January 20, because no one can pervert or misconstrue the Constitution, ever. Thanks to the do-over in 2009, President Obama will be the only other president besides Franklin Roosevelt to have taken the oath of office four times. But FDR didn’t get to kill American citizens with flying robots, so. You can read all about how the first couple is totally more jaded than they were in 2009 (kind of) here.