Maybe Rep. Joe Wilson’s apology for calling President Obama a liar on national TV didn’t feel that sincere, but President Obama accepted it anyway. Obama, choosing to focus on getting a health care reform bill passed by Congress, said that he was pleased that Wilson, an avowed anti-Obamaist, had apologized “quickly and without equivocation.” It was during the president’s address to the joint session of Congress that Wilson shouted “You Lie!” as Obama explained that his proposal would not cover those in the United States illegally. Even members of Wilson’s own Republican Party expressed embarrassment over the outburst, and several of them prompted the four-term South Carolina representative to say he was sorry. “This evening I let my emotions get the best of me,” he said in a statement. “While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.” But then, a seemingly not-so-sorry Wilson noted that his comments were “spontaneous.” Offered Wilson, “It was when he (Obama) stated, as he did, about not (health care insurance) not covering illegal aliens … We need to discuss the issues and I’m happy to do that.” But Obama chose to focus on health care, saying, “We all make mistakes.” The president’s decision to let the matter go is perhaps what led to fellow Democrats in Congress dropping the issue. “It’s time for us to talk about health care, not Mr. Wilson,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. It remains to be seen whether his “spontaneous” remarks will cost him politically. Already, his Web site crashed, following the quip, and both Republicans and Democrats Twittered him to a pulp about what they deemed objectionable behavior. “I was embarrassed for the chamber and a Congress I love,” Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “It demeaned the institution.”

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Hours before addressing the nation in perhaps the most important speech of his administration so far, President Obama traveled to New York Wednesday to speak at a memorial service for veteran CBS anchor Walter Cronkite. “We also remember and celebrate the journalism that Walter practiced — a standard of honesty and integrity and responsibility to which so many of you have committed your careers,” Obama said at the jam-packed service at Lincoln Center. “It’s a standard that’s a little bit harder to find today. We know that this is a difficult time for journalism. Even as appetites for news and information grow, newsrooms are closing. Despite the big stories of our era, serious journalists find themselves all too often without a beat. Just as the news cycle has shrunk, so has the bottom line.” Other dignitaries included former President Bill Clinton, news celebrities Andy Rooney, Katie Couric, Cronkite’s current successor, Bob Schieffer, and Tom Brokaw.

President Obama traveled to New York today to speak at a memorial service held for veteran CBS anchor, Walter Cronkite.

Other speakers at the Lincoln Center event included President Bill Clinton, Katie Couric and Tom Brokaw.

“We also remember and celebrate the journalism that Walter practiced — a standard of honesty and integrity and responsibility to which so many of you have committed your careers,” said Obama. “It’s a standard that’s a little bit harder to find today. We know that this is a difficult time for journalism. Even as appetites for news and information grow, newsrooms are closing. Despite the big stories of our era, serious journalists find themselves all too often without a beat. Just as the news cycle has shrunk, so has the bottom line.”

See the video below.

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BET News will carry the speech live on BET J at 8 PM /7C. EST and it will re-air on BET at 10 PM E/9C. Jeff Johnson will host with guests offering pre and post analysis of the President’s speech and will address specifically the question, “what’s in it for us?” Guests will include Sophia Nelson, BET.com’s Pamela Gentry and Marjorie Innocent.

The President is expected to detail his plan for health care reform, counter some of the myths floating around about his plans and attempt to win the support of the undecided.

Tune in!

Justice Sonia Sotomayor officially joined the U.S. Supreme Court in a special ceremony Tuesday attended by President Obama; Vice President Joe Biden; her mother, Celina, and brother, Juan; entertainer Ricky Martin, retired Justice David Souter, the man she replaced; members of Congress; federal judges and former top Justice Department officials. The nation’s first Hispanic and third woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court took the oath of office again during Tuesday’s event. Actually, the rest of the court does not return for real work until today, when the justices hear arguments in a case involving campaign finance law. Attorney General Eric Holder presented Sotomayor’s ivory-colored commission from Obama. Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office, after which Sotomayor took her seat at the end of the bench to Roberts’ left, next to Justice Stephen Breyer. All her colleagues were in attendance.

So what’s the message that many conservatives didn’t want President Obama delivering to their children for fear that he would “brainwash” them? Be sure to go to class; pay attention to your parents and teachers; and be the best that you can be in all that you do. All across America, parents promised to keep their kids home from school today, arguing that Obama was seeking to inject a liberal, socialist message to their young minds. Some individuals and groups objected, saying it is inappropriate for the president to infiltrate a local education setting with political shenanigans. But the White House made the Republican backlash seem silly by posting the president’s official remarks on the White House Web site this morning. “We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems,” Obama said. “If you don’t do that — if you quit on school — you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.” Obama also reminds young people that all their parents’ hard work, and that of their educators, doesn’t matter “unless you show up to those schools, pay attention to those teachers.” The question now is whether those concerned parents – who can no longer point to a sinister brainwashing agenda of Obama’s speech – will still prevent their children from listening to him. The speech, to be delivered at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C., will be broadcast live on C-SPAN and on the White House Web site. Schools nationwide will play the speech in classrooms.

Pamela on Politics: See the Full Transcript and Get More News on the Buzz About the  President’s Speech

Despite the current deluge of Republican opposition to the practices and policies of President Obama, former First Lady Laura Bush praised her husband’s successor Monday for the way he is handling the mountain of issues he inherited. “I think he is [doing a good job],” Bush told CNN when asked to assess Obama’s job performance. “I think he has got a lot on his plate, and he has tackled a lot to start with, and that has probably made it more difficult.” The usually shy former first lady, speaking with the news agency during a United Nations meeting in Paris on Monday, took a decidedly different path than many of those in her party, even praising Obama decision to address students in nationally televised speech and blasting the growing political division in the nation. It is “really important for everyone to respect the president of the United States,” she said. “I think there is a place for the president … to talk to schoolchildren and encourage” them. Parents should follow his example and “encourage their own children to stay in school and to study hard and to try to achieve the dream that they have.” As for claims by many conservatives that Obama is a “socialist,” Bush said that such a characterization is unfair. It only fuels deep political polarization, she said. “We’ve seen that for the last eight years, certainly, and we’re still seeing it,” she said. “That’s just a fact of life.”

Sensing that his health care message is being muddled amidst a deluge of conservative misinformation, President Obama will address a joint session of Congress to try and get the upper hand in the increasingly contentious debate. The Sept. 9, address will mark the second time that the president has spoken directly to the full Legislature since taking office nearly eight months ago. With indications that Obama’s momentum on the issue has begun to slow as conservative commentators have blasted away at Democratic proposals, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid invited Obama to make the address. The president is scheduled to meet with the two congressional leaders at the White House next week to discuss the speech, CNN reports. Many Democrats have pressed Obama to lay out his own detailed plan, following a series of noisy, disruptive and often unintelligible debates at town hall meetings across the nation. “The president is clearly not running away from this battle but rather confronting the challenges we’ve encountered these last few weeks head-on,” Democratic Sen. Charles Rangel of New York said in a statement Wednesday night. “He’s pulling out all the stops, and this level of involvement from the president could well be a game-changer. There is no better way to turn public opinion around than to have someone as popular as President Obama addressing the American people directly, without intermediaries interpreting – or misinterpreting – his ideas.” David Axelrod, the president’s senior adviser, said that the dynamic of the debate has changed, providing an opportunity for Obama to step in and gain control of the issue. “We’re entering a new season,” Axelrod said. “It’s time to synthesize and harmonize these strands and get this done.”

Praising Black colleges for their historic role in instilling hope and expanding educational opportunity for African Americans, President Obama proclaimed this week National Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Week. “This week, we celebrate the accomplishments of HBCUs and look to the future with conviction and optimism,” Obama said. “These institutions will play a key role in reaching our ambitious national education goals, including having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. As our Nation strives toward this goal, we invite HBCUs to employ new, innovative, and ambitious strategies to help the next generation of Americans successfully complete college and prepare themselves for the global economy. During National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week, we recommit ourselves to never resting until equality is real, opportunity is universal, and all citizens can realize their dreams.” The president noted that such luminaries as W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington, to Langston Hughes and Thurgood Marshall graduated from HBCUs before going on to shape the course of American history. “For generations, education has opened doors to untold opportunities and bright futures,” he said. “Through quality instruction and a personal commitment to hard work, young people in every part of our nation have gone on to achieve success. Established by men and women of great vision, leadership, and clarity of purpose, historically Black colleges and universities have provided generations of Americans with opportunity, a solid education, and hope.” For more than 140 years, HBCUs – situated in 20 States, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands – have served hundreds of thousands of students from every background, contributing to the expansion of the African-American middle class, the growth of local communities, and the nation’s overall economy, Obama said. “HBCUs have released the power of knowledge to countless Americans … and offer us a window into our nation’s past as well as a path forward,” he said.

President Obama, who praised Edward Kennedy as the greatest senator of his time, will deliver the eulogy at the lawmaker’s funeral Saturday at a Boston church. Kennedy, the third-longest-serving U.S. senator in history, died Tuesday night at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass., following a yearlong battle with brain cancer. He was 77. Kennedy’s body will lie in repose this afternoon and Friday in the Smith Center at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, The Associated Press reports. A memorial service will be held Friday evening at the Smith Center. Funeral services will be held at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston’s Mission Hill section, a stone’s throw from the Kennedy library. “The outpouring of love, gratitude and fond memories to which we’ve all borne witness is a testament to the way this singular figure in American history touched so many lives,” said Obama, who is vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts. “His ideas and ideals are stamped on scores of laws and reflected in millions of lives – in seniors who know new dignity; in families that know new opportunity; in children who know education’s promise; and in all who can pursue their dream in an America that is more equal and more just, including myself.”