There has been a good deal of discussion on a small point--that of Chief Justice John Roberts's verbal errors in swearing in the new president. It is largely immaterial, but for the record, I think there's an important point that most commentators are missing. After looking at the transcript, it becomes clear that the line about Obama's executing his office faithfully wasn't Roberts's only mistake.
The first sign of problems came, and I remember this from watching on TV as well, when Roberts steps on Obama's reciting of his name, cutting him off. (See the transcript here, via Kos. Before Obama can repeat his name, Roberts moves on to the next line of the oath. I find it very, very interesting that the word of the oath Obama is about to utter as Roberts cuts him off is the very one that has been the focus of so much media attention in the last few days. His middle name. Hussein. After Roberts cuts him off with "do solemnly swear," Obama is forced to back up and start from the beginning, so as to not skip his middle and last name.
This is very interesting in light of some of the theories put forth about how Roberts could possibly make the mistake he did. Sabotage? Hard to believe. Something in his subconscious? The point at which the oath began to go awry may make an argument for Roberts's political or religious beliefs having in some way caused his mistake more persuasive. A Muslim name attached to the leader of what many of Robert's milieu openly call a Christian nation seems like a tough pill to swallow.
I do not think this is a very fruitful topic to spend much time on, as there are issues far more pressing then what part of the Chief Justice's conscious or subconscious mind may have caused his awful stumble. Still, the timing of the initial error, just before Hussein, is an intriguing clue. I believe it may have been this cutting off of the president which caused Roberts to subsequently mangle the "faithfully" line.
Of course, if there is some rule as to the cadence of oath-taking that I'm not aware of, such as a person must say "do solemnly swear" in the same breath as their name, then the initial error was Obama's. I don't believe this to the the case, though, so the right and smooth thing to do would be for Roberts to have let Obama finish saying his name before jumping in with "do solemnly swear." It is strange that this is not what happened.