Originally Posted By mawnck >>In the second paragraph of his inaugural address, Obama said, “Forty four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.” Sorry. While Obama IS the 44th president, he is actually only the 43rd American to take the oath. Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms. He is counted as the 22nd president, serving from 1885 to 1889. He won back theoffice four years later, and is counted also as the 24th president, serving again from 1893-1897.<< <a href="http://washingtonbureau.typepad.com/washington/2009/01/oops-obama-makes-first-presidential-mistake-.html" target="_blank">http://washingtonbureau.typepa...ke-.html</a>
Originally Posted By Mr X I think it's kinda weird that he would be counted twice anyway. I would think he'd be JUST the 22nd (what does non-consecutive have to do with it?). Here's the funny part, if Obama HAD said "forty three" I'll bet far more people would've THOUGHT he was wrong even though he'd have been "right". Sorta.
Originally Posted By imadisneygal I admit I thought the same thing immediately and said it out loud in my son's classroom today. I guess it's not that big of a deal but if it occurred to little old me immediately, why didn't it occur to the speech writer or anyone else who proofed it??
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Most people forget about Buford P. Johnson. Buford took the oath of office but died of a heart attack immediately afterwards, leaving Andrew Jackson as the president. Since Buford never actually served as president, he is never counted as one, but he did indeed take the oath. I'm pretty darned impressed that Obama remembered to include good old Buford! ;-)
Originally Posted By markymouse I too noticed the mistake. And I share Mr X's theory. I wonder if in writing the speech, the decision was made to make the mistake rather than a) say 43 and let most people go "HUH?" or b) explain why it is 43 which would have been so Al Gore. I think the right answer would have been to reword that part to avoid the confusion. But I fear that I'm giving too much credit. Do you think no one caught the mistake? That would be so sad. I mean, what does that say about the state of social studies education?
Originally Posted By Mr X If they actually put that much thought into it (I'm guessing they didn't though), they could've simply re-written it as "this oath has been administered 44 times".
Originally Posted By imadisneygal But the oath has been administered more than 44 times, because any incumbent President takes it again in a second (or in FDR's case, 3rd and 4th) term. Bush was the 43rd President, but took the oath twice - so did Clinton, Reagan, etc. So I guess it's a lose/lose. But it was a noticeable error to me.
Originally Posted By Mr X How 'bout..."this sacred oath has been administered to the leader of 44 administrations". too Gore?
Originally Posted By alexbook I suppose I should be relieved to know I'm not the only person who noticed this. That means I'm not quite as much of a nerd as I thought I was. Or maybe we're all nerds together. ;-)
Originally Posted By wonderingalice I'm not a nerd; I'm a dork. That's Disney Dork to you, buster. ;-)
Originally Posted By Labuda So if this is a "major" mistake, I can't wait to see tthe OP's reaction to something that actually IS major. Wow.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I heard he had one blue and one brown sock on today - throw him out --(j/k)
Originally Posted By mawnck >>So if this is a "major" mistake, I can't wait to see tthe OP's reaction to something that actually IS major. Wow.<< I'll probably make another joke that somebody completely misses. ;-)
Originally Posted By markymouse I recently read a quotation about Adlai Stevenson. Someone told him he would get the vote of every thinking American. He responded that that wouldn't be enough; he needed a majority. Seems relevant.
