Obama sworn in for second time

Washington : Barack Obama has been sworn in as US president for the second time in two days, because one word was given out of order during Tuesday’s ceremony.

The Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, John Roberts, administered the oath again at the White House. The decision to repeat the oath was taken out of an abundance of caution, an official said. But Obama joked: “We decided it was so much fun....” before adding: “

We’re going to do it very slowly.” In contrast to the first oath-taking, Obama did not swear on a Bible and his wife Michelle was not at his side. Tuesday’s stumble went largely unnoticed at the time.

In the oath, as set out in the US Constitution, the new incumbent swears to “faithfully execute the office of president of the United States”.

But as Chief Justice Roberts read out the oath for Obama to repeat, he moved the word “faithfully” to the end of the phrase.