So help us, god.

Before I transcribe (read: grimace) at the Presidential Oath of Office brouhaha, I thought I'd peruse the original text.

It's a straightforward 35-worder -- about the length of the mandarin mo sie passage we used to rattle off in primary school. But Roberts and Obama struggled to do as our kids do in countless classrooms everday. No wonder the fear of public speaking is reportedly the number one fear of American adults; CJ Roberts, I'm sure, had wished he could burrow his head in the ground Ostrich-style (which is a myth, I just discovered to my surprise).

The Presidential Oath of Office: "I (xxx) do solemnly swear, that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

The Robama version:

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

Obama: I am.

Roberts: I Barack Hussein Obama...

Obama: I Bar... (Roberts: do solemnly swear,) 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... (pauses and smiles)

Roberts: (realising) the off... faithfully the presi... of 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 constituion of the United States,

Obama: preserve protect and defend the constituion of the United States,

Roberts: so help you god?

Obama: so help me god.

Roberts: Congratulations, Mr President.

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Much has been made of Roberts' and Obama's misplacement of the word faithfully, but hear their flawless retaking of the oath the day after, and you will notice that the Inauguration Day's version was highly mutilated. It bore an agonising 9 bloopers.

Yes, 9 bloopers. TIME's Joe Klein's observed that Obama had paused to allow Roberts to correct himself over the faithfully misplacement, but even then Obama repeated Roberts' initial mistake after Roberts had properly re-arranged the sentence. And there were 8 others.

The moral of the story? My take: This is a sign of the times -- and a reprisal of the fallen investment bankers and risk managers that have taken the world down with them -- that somehow even the greatest minds out there are very human, just like all of us.

But the time to lament is not now. Now is the time to peer ahead to the horizon, to the sunrise, and chart our journey there faithfully. Errr....

Now is the time to peer ahead to the horizon, to the sunrise, and faithfully chart our journey there.

So help us god, if there is one...