A More Perfect Union - Summary

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 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.

Within his speech, Barack Obama admits that the United States is in the "midst of a crisis" but he believes that it can change, but he also makes it clear that the change cannot happen overnight. Obama's inspirational tone stirs up the nation with phrases such as “dust ourselves off” and “bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions.” Barack Obama's message persuades his audience because the message is believable and delivered by an honest man. In his previous speeches, Obama spoke of race and prejudice, an economic crisis and his hopes and fears with such intelligence that when

In Obama’s speech “A More Perfect Union”, he emphasizes the importance of unity among Americans. He wants people to overlook their ethnic backgrounds and join together as one. This speech brought out many points that Americans should take into consideration. That even though we are all from different backgrounds, we should overlook our differences to make us a stronger nation. Obama’s speech was inspiring in some aspects, but in a way his speech also is controversial.

“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.

Our journey for unity is far from over; this was referenced in two of the most powerful speeches ever made in two different centuries. Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address from 1863, a speech that changed history and Martin Luther King Jr.’s I have a dream from 1963, a speech that made history. Both speeches represented a call for staying the course and not to give up. The call was fit for that time particular time in history. They are five scores years apart, yet close enough that we felt the need to reignite the message of faith, hope and optimism, the hope that black and white people would live together in peace.

Speaking to a record audience of 1.8 million Americans packed in the National Mall, along with over 300 million Americans watching on television, President Barack Obama shouldered the monumental task of uniting the nation, by showing his audience that they share the commonplace of being American citizens. Obama accomplishes this feat by embracing the sacred ideals set forth by the Founding Fathers, emphasizing the idea that Americans are endowed with the “God-given promise that all

Last week I attended the Forum on Government and Public Policy featuring Chuck Raasch, author of Imperfect Union: A Father’s Search for His Son in the Aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg that was held at the Lewis Auditorium. I enjoyed listening to his lecture about his book and his passion for history. Raasch believes that in his mind, the Battle of Gettysburg is the biggest human made disaster, and he explained he felt the need to write his book because he wanted readers to understand the eternal aftermath of war. Imperfect Union revolves around a father, Sam Wilkeson, who lost his son, Bayard, on his first day of battle in the Battle of Gettysburg. After his son’s death, Sam Wilkeson wrote one of the most impactful reports in U.S. history

In Martin Luther King Jr. 's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and Barack Obama 's "A More Perfect Union", both leaders discussed many of the same issues. The big theme in both was about race in the United States and becoming a much more unified nation despite our race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc. Both of these leaders also touched on the fact that in order to solve the problems in this country, we must be unified and work together. One quote that really stood out to me in "Letter of a Birmingham Jail" was "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere...Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." I really thought that this was a very powerful statement and one that makes absolute sense. Barack Obama also stated something very similar in his "A More Perfect Union" speech stating the following "...I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together..."

This inaugural speech marked the beginning of the second term of Barack Obama as president of the United States of America. It was delivered at United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. on January 21, 2013. The event followed the presidential election in the United States and it was very important all over the world, about a million of people gathered outside the Capitol to witness the president's words and millions more from around the world watched him on television (Staff). For first time, a president talked about same sex marriage and gay rights, he also talked about divisive issues such as reform of immigration policies, stopping climate change and preserving a social welfare safety net. Obama showed a progressive and liberal agenda, focused on equal rights and possibilities for all the citizens. The theme of the speech was “Faith in America's Future,” (Caldwell) and he successfully used various rhetorical techniques and resources to influence the audience.

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

Jeremiah Wright, Jr. is striking out against the dehumanizing forces he sees are threatening the lives of blacks in the Unites States. He thinks he is empowering his congregation to stand up and challenge the way white society is continuing to treat blacks.

The speech titled “A More Perfect Union” was delivered by Senator Barack Obama on March 18, 2008 near the historical site of the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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