Is Barack Obama really President of the United States?

After all that fuss, is it possible that Barack Obama is not actually President of the United States?

It's a question being asked by constitutional experts - not to mention Fox News pundits:

and bloggers - after the man generally considered the finest orator of his generation fluffed his lines while reciting the oath of office on Capitol Hill yesterday.

Actually, the blame may well lie with John Roberts, the Chief Justice, whose job it was to guide Mr Obama through the 35-word oath prescribed by the constitution and decided to do it from memory in front of a live crowd of around 2 million people and a further billion or so following via television.

Interrupted by Mr Obama right at the start of the oath, Mr Roberts misplaced a single word so that the former Illinois senator vowed to "execute the Office of President of the United States faithfully" instead of, as he was meant to, "execute faithfully the Office of President of the United States".

According to Jack Beermann, a constitutional law scholar at Boston University, that single slip might be enough to invalidate Mr Obama's oath and he should take it again to be sure.

"It would take him 30 seconds, he can do it in private, it's not a big deal, and he ought to do it just to be safe," Mr Beermann told the San Francisco Chronicle. "It's an open question whether he's president until he takes the proper oath."

Other experts disagreed, pointing out that under the 20th Amendment of the Constitution Mr Obama automatically become president at noon on January 20th, a few minutes before he was sworn in.

Jeffrey Rosen, a constitutional law expert and professor at George Washington University in Washington, said that stumbling over the oath has "no impact".

"News flash: he's President," he said.

"Lots of people have flubbed the oath, perhaps most memorably Chief Justice (William Howard) Taft, who sort of riffed and then made up his own" when he was swearing in Herbert Hoover, Professor Rosen said.

Where the oath calls on the president to "preserve, protect, and defend" the constitution, Chief Justice Taft said "preserve, maintain and defend" - injecting an entirely new word instead of just mangling up the order.

As the San Francisco Chronicle's politics blog noted, however, Mr Obama was one of just 22 senators who voted against confirming Mr Roberts "and now becomes the first president sworn in, or not, by a justice he voted against".

What they said:

Roberts: Are you prepared to take the oath, Senator?

Obama: I am.

Roberts: I, Barack Hussein Obama...

Obama: I, Barack...

Roberts: ... do solemnly swear...

Obama: I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear...

Roberts: ... that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully...

Obama: ... that I will execute...

Ropberts: ... faithfully the office of president of the United States...

Obama: ... the office of president of the United States faithfully...

Roberts: ... and will to the best of my ability...

Obama: ... and will to the best of my ability...

Roberts: ... preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Obama: ... preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Roberts: So help you God?

Obama: So help me God.

Roberts: Congratulations, Mr. President.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5560165.ece