Barack Obama speech to joint session of Congress, February 2009 Barack Obama speech to joint session of Congress, February 2009 The 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, gave his first public address before a joint session of the United States Congress on Tuesday, February 24, 2009. Similar to a State of the Union address, it was delivered before the 111th United States Congress in the Chamber of the United States House of Representatives in the United States Capitol. Presiding over this joint session was the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. Accompanying the Speaker of the House was the President of the United States Senate, Joe Biden, the Vice President
Vice President of the United States became moot. In the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries which pitted Hillary Clinton against Barack Obama, Clinton suggested a Clinton-Obama ticket with Obama in the vice president slot as it would be "unstoppable" against the presumptive Republican nominee. Obama rejected the offer outright saying "I want everybody to be absolutely clear. I'm not running for vice president. I'm running for president of the United States of America" while noting "With all due respect. I won twice as many states as Sen. Clinton. I've won more of the popular vote than Sen. Clinton. I have more delegates than Sen. Clinton. So, I