A More Perfect Union Essay

In Barack Obama’s speech, “A More Perfect Union,” Obama made an effort to educate the American people on the history and importance of race in America. He explained how our nations founding fathers developed our Constitution based on the idea that all men are created equal, without actually practicing this idea themselves. He used the words of the Constitution to discuss the current racial issues and to state his concern of our imperfect nation. This was all in response to the very controversial remarks Barack Obama’s pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright had previously stated, which created much unease among Americans. Obama felt the need to address our nation about this specific problem, since he identifies as a black man himself, and offer a solution to end this built up anger and discrimination between the American people. In his speech, “A More Perfect Union,” Obama is able to clearly convey the specific racial problem at hand that created the exigency for this speech, as well as effectively share his own personal connection with this issue, in order to help fix our country and work together to find a beneficial solution.

In the title, “ Racial Formation in the United States”, author Michael Omi and Howard Winant argues that the problems of understanding race and how it can be established and seen to be the answer through the concept of hegemony within the racial cultures. Society needs to understand racial combination within each race, then understand how the force and the consent plays a major role within each party or community in the United States of America. Now, in the title, “A More Perfect Union,” author Barack Obama emphasizes that race has diverse stories in which it proves that we still hold common hopes in understanding society as a whole through common sense in racism. Barack Obama’s speech proves several ideas about race by comprehending how he became the president and how society interacts around the topic in which Michael Omi and Howard Winant tends to prove in the article. Omi and Winant’ s claims that racial categories serve in the U.S can be seen as common sense and hegemony concept.

In response to the controversial sermon given by his pastor and the racial remarks that followed him during his 2008 campaign, then Senator Barack Obama, was inherently forced into delivering a speech that would address the comments and prove to the American people that he did in fact shared their “American Dream” and was not an Anti-America charity case. Obama gave his famous “A More Perfect Union” speech in Philadelphia, where he seized the opportunity to address the controversy as an indication of a much larger issue, race relations in America and introduce his mission of moving the country toward “a more perfect union.” His speech often coined, “the Race Speech”, had several factors play into its success, one factor being the way the speech was delivered, his speech incorporated the jeremiad form and constitutive form of rhetoric, the use of those two forms helped Obama address the issue while at the same time creating an identity that would encompass all Americans who would then come together in this identity and work toward the solution of the race issue and providing the “American Dream” for everyone.

‘A More Perfect Union’ is a speech that was delivered by the then US Senator for Chicago, Barack Hussein Obama, in response to criticism and condemnation that was hurled at him due to his association with Reverend Jeremiah Wright in March of 2008. Videos had surfaced earlier that month of Obama’s (now former) pastor in Chicago making “racially inflammatory remarks” that criticized the American government and accused it of discrimination against people of color (Yahoo News, 2015). Reverend Wright had come under attack from many corners of American society due to what people termed as ‘anti-American’ sentiments that Reverend Wright shared with his congregants, the most prominent of them being Senator Obama.

In the beginning of his speech, Obama discusses his family and their past, how his grandfather served the United States and was a veteran of World War II. He speaks about the name that was given to him, Obama, as being African and how his parents felt that it isnt your name that takes you places and makes you who you are, it your character, strength, and personality. He also descibes his encounters with that he

“We the people, in order to form a more perfect union”1 - On March the 18th 2008 Barack Obama opened his speech on race, in Philadelphia, with this sentence. From the open sentence you can see that this speech isn’t any speech, perform by any orator. It’s a speech with a main message, performed for the people, to creates a brighter future for all the American people and to change history.

Obama’s speech demonstrates certain points to engage the audience and to create a connection to emphasize its presence in the speech. One impactful technique he used is his anecdotes to prove his credibility to gain trust within the students. One anecdote that he clearly states is about African Americans are treated different decades ago and how certain races are not able to have the job they wanted, due to their skin tone. Furthermore, he adds his own research on this topic by explaining how “no blacks CEOs of Fortune 500 companies” (Mccaskill). This creates a sense of wisdom and satisfaction because, over time, society changed their views within people of color

In the year 2008 the world was a much different place. Before countless racial protests and riots in streets, before NFL players knelt during the National Anthem for what they believed in, and before our president spoke of nonsensical chauvinistic principles on a regular basis, our country appeared to have a greater sense of unification. This unifying bond between the American people was due in part by Barack Obama, whose entire campaign to become president may have been the most difficult struggle for anybody in the lineage of presidential candidates to go through. As part of his strategy to win over voters and soothe the skepticism of whites who may have had any doubting questions, Obama gave this speech on race; a speech which still

The president, Barack Obama gave a speech at Howard University commencement ceremony. Speaking to the graduating class about the need to keep pushing for change he gave the students at the historically black university advise on how to shape your own future and to always strike for better. The president argues that the U.S and the world is becoming a better place than when he was a collage student. However, there is still work to be done when it comes to employment, achievements, and justice for African Americans. The president also mentions to be confident in your heritage and to aim for greatness. Also that empathy should be extended to all people who are struggling to achieve success or a goal. Furthermore, the president advised the grad

Do you believe that the U.S. needs to be more “united” to be able to become better as a country? Former president, Barack Obama does. “A More Perfect Union” is the name of a speech given by Barack Obama in 2008 for his presidential campaign. In his speech, Obama builds an argument on how United States citizens must come together and look past racial and ethnical differences in order to better our country. Throughout his speech, Obama states various reasons to support his argument. Some of the many reasons include: the problem of recurring racism, the fight and work of getting equal rights from generations before, and the need to come together to be able to face certain problems. Along with these reasons, Barack Obama also uses many

President Obama’s, “A More Perfect Union”, speech conveyed many of his beliefs concerning racism. Obama is the son of a white woman and a Kenyan man, and just because of his race people are either with or against him. He begins his speech by talking about the founding fathers and the Declaration of Independence by saying that ‘all men are created equal’. His former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright brought up some of his observations about racism which caused some unease. He continues his speech by saying that the solution to ending this unease of racism is to come together and forgive each other for all the wrongs they have done in the past. He ends his speech by saying that both races need to become united in order for a more perfect union. Barack Obama buttresses his argument about slavery and unification by using ethos, pathos, allusion, as well as repetition.

A Perfect Union by Catherine Allgor describes the life of Dolley Madison starting with her first marriage to John Todd whom she only married because her bed-ridden father told her to. Although the marriage to John was a happy marriage it was soon brought to an abrupt end when the yellow fever hit; killing Dolley’s husband and younger son. The newly widowed Dolley took many trips into town and soon she caught the attention of Congressman James Madison who fell so madly in love with her. This attraction led to Dolley turning her back on her Quaker background when she married James Madison and consequently leaded to her removal from “the meeting”. Dolley and James moved to Washington with all of Congress, she assisted in involving the wives of the Government men— these women were known as “the ladies of Washington”—into the political policies and life. Before James’ presidency, Dolley got ill due to an infection from an unhealed wound on her knee which resulted in her leaving Washington to Philadelphia for surgery. Even from her hospital bed, Dolley managed to connected Philadelphia and Washington together just like the capital does. Soon after arriving back home from the hospital bed, Dolley became depressed especially with the loss of her sister, her sister’s kids and her mom. Later on during the presidential campaign, Dolley took the “practical task” of winning her husband’s supporters and presenting her family to the public through many parties she hosted. James soon won

Obama later references himself, describing “the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him too,” and declares that “it is that fundamental belief -- I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper -- that makes this country work.” Here, he addresses the religious section of his audience with a reference to the Bible, but only after first establishing the more generalized idea in non-religious terms. In doing so, he effectively unites the religious and non-religious members of the audience with a shared belief. These instances all serve as evidence for the fundamental claim that Americans are all united, despite having different life experiences. Though Obama never explicitly states as much, the implied warrant is that it is our individualism that unites us over the things we have in common. He bases his argument on the assumption that the audience is empathetic and able to understand the circumstances of others’ lives. Not every American is a Marine, but much of the population can relate to the feelings of patriotism that Seamus expressed to Obama, and almost everyone can relate to that “skinny kid” with a desire to find a place in society. The backing for this warrant is that although we lead incredibly different lives, we can all relate to other Americans on certain basic issues, like empathy, hope, and patriotism. Obama goes on to qualify his claim of unity, stating that “we are

Senator Barack Obama had many issues throughout his campaign. Obama’s speech, “A More Perfect Union”, delivered on March 18, 2008, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, conveyed many issues concerning racism throughout the United States, but it starts out stating how the founders of this nation constructed the Declaration of Independence, creating all men equal. Obama then begins to talk about his pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and his racial remarks against America and Israel, as it is “divisive at a time when we need unity”, referring to the “ two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis” going on at the time. (Obama 2) Obama remarks “I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas,” (Obama 1) because there is much criticism in his campaign due to his race. Obama argues that race is paralyzing our nation, and that it is still a major issue due to white privilege, and racial inequality. In the end, Obama hopes to move past the “racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years,” (Obama 6) and wishes to improve health care, jobs, schools, and other social issues for the United States.

On top of that big fat slab of equality and togetherness, President Obama also begins to usher in a sense of endless possibilities and hope through the audience. He juxtaposes the “ending of war” to the beginning of economic recovery (Isn’t that a lie in the state we’re in?). This solidifies hope and the use parallelism, “ we are made for this moment, and we will seize it – so long as we seize it together". He begins again, this time using a parallelism that is used throughout the rest of the speech, “we, the people,” to even further establish togetherness and also builds Obama’s presidential