Obama Is NOT The First Black President...Guess Who Was?

The Obama inauguration on Tuesday will be remembered for generations. From the Supreme Court Chief Justice’s foul-up of the Presidential oath (which was administered again the next day at the White House-JUST IN CASE) to the huge crowds, to the stirring address by our new President….to the somewhat obvious distinction that Barack Obama became the first black President….or IS HE?

Actually, the first black President was also our first female President-and that person was ………….(drumroll, please….) CONDOLEEZA RICE! I’ll explain in a moment.

Of course, most people have heard that Thomas Jefferson had some African ancestry in his family tree. As such, he is sometimes called America’s first Black President. According to historian Leroy Vaughn, author of “Black People And Their Place In World History”, in addition to Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge all had some black ancestry. Both Harding and Coolidge never disputed their reported ancestry-although it is said that Jefferson took great pains to conceal or destroy his lineage.

Now, back to Condoleeza Rice.

She was President for only a minute. So was Joe Biden, all according to Ken Katlin, Professor of Law at Northern Kentucky University. Here’s how the scenario unfolds:

1) The Constitution states that :”Before he enter on the Execution of this Office, the president-elect has to take an oath of office”. The 20th Amendment says that “the terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January” and that “If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term,or if the President-elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified”. Enter Joe Biden, who was sworn in first, just a minute or so after noon. Obama wasn’t sworn in before noon. City Desk blogger Andrew Beaujon joked that our memories of the brief Biden presidency are vivid because Yo Yo Ma played the entire time!

2) Constitutional Law Professor Katlin refutes any notion that the oath itself is meaningless, quoting Article II, section 1 Cl.8 above concerning the importance of the oath. Therefore, from 12:00 noon until 12:01, the President of the United States was Condoleeza Rice. From 12:01 until about 12:03, the President was Joe Biden. Neither apparently had “executive power” until they too would take the Presidential oath (to actually “act” as President), but they were, in essence the “acting President” Confused?

3) The language of the Presidential Succession Act actually puts the Speaker Of The House (Nancy Pelosi) ahead of the Secretary of State in the line of succession. However, most constitutional scholars believe that an “interbranch appointment” of this nature would violate the doctrine of the Separation of Powers. For this reason, the Secretary of State-Condoleeza Rice was actually the Chief Executive. George Bush and Dick Cheney were officially OUT and Obama and Biden were NOT officially “IN” yet.

The most amusing part of it all is that is highly unlikely that the Secretary of State was actually AWARE that she was President. Admittedly a short term of office, but I for one would have at least wanted to sit in the Big Chair in the Oval Office.

Now there is some dispute that Joe Biden completed HIS oath before noon, making his Presidency a two or three minute affair. If this was the case, then Rice was not both the first black AND the first female President. I choose to believe the original version, since it makes for a much better story, no?


Here is Condoleeza, congratulating Obama on his victory-from November:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSjuduQGN4

President Rice, congratulations! You have had the first U.S. Presidency completely devoid of scandal, boneheaded decisions or political bickering!


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