Speaking at the end of his Cabinet meeting today, President Obama said he accepts Rep. Joe Wilson’s (R-SC) apology for yelling out “You lie!” during the president’s speech yesterday.
“We all make mistakes,” Obama said. “He apologized quickly and without equivocation.”
“We have to get to the point where we can have a conversation about big, important issues that matter to the American people without vitriol, without name calling, without the assumption of the worst in other people’s motives,” he went on. “We are all Americans. We all want to do the best for our country. We’ve got different ideas but, for the most part, we have the same aims.”
Wilson yelled out after Obama said a public option wouldn’t cover illegal immigrants. He apologized soon after.
Check out the video after the jump.
The president used the moment to call for a more pragmatic approach to the debate.
“Our goals are generally the same, whether we’re Democrats or Republicans. And, in fact, most Americans don’t even think about those labels all that much. [But] they are turned off when they see people using wild accusations, false claims, name calling, sharply ideological approaches,” Obama went on. “They want pragmatism. They want people to stay focused on the job.”
He called on the news media to keep that focus and to help “break the fever” of the debate.
“The media can always be helpful by not giving all the attention to the loudest or shrillest voices,” he said, “and try to stay a little more focused on the issues at hand.”
