“You lie!”It’s the simplest of sentences — but the impact of two words can sometimes have colossal repercussions.Especially when those words are said on national TV — in a joint session of the United States Congress — and they’re yelled at the president of the United States.Yet those are exactly the two words yelled by Representative Joe Wilson, D-S.C., during President Barack Obama’s highly publicized and highly viewed speech to Congress addressing the issue of health care.The speech brings to a head all the tension in the debate about the issue, which has caused a deep, bitter divide across the nation. The rhetoric on both sides of the issue in the last few months has been strong, with Democrats claiming Republicans are inhibiting inevitable progress and Republicans accusing Democrats of socialism and running America into the ground.The discussion about health care — if it can be called a discussion — has been staggeringly uncivil and unabashedly partisan. It’s also been shrouded in a constant cloak of disinformation and unclarity, partially through hare-brained attacks from detractors and partially through muddled communication by its supporters.The simple fact is, there has been a bewilderingly large number of proposed plans and solutions regarding health care. Even legislators have no concrete plan to discuss — let alone the average citizen on a couch.Obama’s address to Congress was meant to do things: put forward a unified, debatable plan that could be discussed with clarity and attempt to attain at least an agreement for civil discourse.By my estimation, the speech would have fulfilled those goals successfully — but the speech (and anybody’s opinion of it) has been made irrelevant.All by two words.Coverage of the speech was dominated by Wilson’s outburst. Pictures of his angry face replaced Obama’s more composed countenance, while his two words garnered more discussion than Obama’s entire oration. Wilson’s remarks were inappropriate. It isn’t inappropriate that he disagrees with the president, and it isn’t even that he yelled out of order — although that yell certainly shows a certain lack of restraint. What’s really inappropriate is what he said. And that’s not just my opinion — it’s an actual congressional rule. According to Section 370 of the House Rules and Manual, no congressman can call a speaker a liar. Violation results in the offender losing his speaking privileges.There’s a reason such a rule exists — calling the president a liar does nothing to help. Instead of a contribution to the debate and an honest criticism of the president’s proposal, it is an insult to his character and accusation of deceit.Sadly, there are indications p Wilson’s “remarks” will assure him re-election in his strongly conservative district, despite his immediate and heartfelt apology to Obama’s office — even though the Democratic Party received huge donations overnight. While a second’s lapse of judgement shouldn’t doom anyone’s political career — or contribute thousands of dollars to the opposing cause — it says a lot about how screwed up our system is that it might guarantee him another term.That said, the real crime behind Wilson’s outburst isn’t that it detracted from debate in Congress — it’s that it detracted from debate nationwide.Instead of analysis of Obama’s speech and the plan laid out in it, news coverage focused on analyzing Wilson’s hastily shouted two words. Instead of discussing whether the federal government can pay for the bill the way Obama claims it can, we’re discussing whether or not he actually lied. And instead of discussing whether it’s appropriate for government to interfere in industry, we’re discussing whether it’s appropriate for a congressman to call the president a liar.In every way Joe Wilson shouldn’t be discussed he is. And the health care issue is still being discussed in exactly the way it shouldn’t.Matthew Albright is a 20-year-old mass communication junior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_malbright.—–Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]