President Bush's term ended at noon during the musical performance. Obama wasn't sworn in until 12:06. Who was president? Please don't tell me it was Nancy Pelosi.Turns out I wasn't the only one wondering about that. One reader suggested Joe Biden was acting president, but he wasn't sworn in until about 12:02. Another suggested it was Robert Gates, but he was only the designated successor in case of an attack on the ceremony with no survivors (they do the same thing for the State of the Union every year).
The actual answer and acting president from 12:00 to 12:02: Condi Rice. The constitutional lawyers over at Volokh Conspiracy did the legwork. Our first black and woman (acting) president.
By the way, Condi just signed with the William Morris Agency. My guess is we'll be hearing from her again.
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