ABSTRACT
On September 9, 2009, President Barack Obama delivered a primetime, nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress on his top domestic policy priority: health care reform. With all of the pomp and circumstance of a national address, the president forcefully argued for health care reform, claiming that, “now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do.” Obama also addressed criticisms made prominent during the August congressional recess. He chastised falsehoods and criticized those who had promulgated “bogus claims” and “misinformation” designed to “kill reform at any cost.” The critical moment of the address may not have been anything that the president said, however. Instead, the speech is likely to be remembered for one outburst from the backbench of the House fl oor, a shout of “You lie!” blurted by Representative Joe Wilson, Republican from South Carolina.
