A Rhetorical Analysis Of Barack Obama's Speech

In 2004, Obama walked up to the podium at the Democratic National Convention as a political novelty. The speech he delivered established Obama as a natural leader and transformed him into a future presidential candidate. Rich in demonstrative rhetoric, its purpose was to unite the American people through nationalism. The exploration of his rhetoric and style throughout this paper will cement why the speech was beneficially identity transforming for Obama's political career.

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.

In his speech, “Remarks by the President in a National Address to America’s Schoolchildren,” Obama effectively argues his claim, that kids should go to school and try very hard to succeed to schoolchildren around the U.S. He effectively argues his claim because he uses supporting details and stories of students that have undergone tough situations, but still overcame those obstacles to succeed and school. Also, he is trying to tell kids that they should do well in school to get a good job and make a difference. He also uses rhetorical appeals to help with the supporting details. One of supporting evidence that he brought up was that if someone wants to become something such as a doctor, or lawyer you will need a good education to do

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

On July 27th, 2004 Barack Obama gave a influential and significant speech that is remains to be talked about ten years later. This speech took place at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Obama, speaking on the side of most democrats, specified that the John Kerry/John Edwards duo would be the greatest selection to assist in leading America down a greater road. The speech ended in rounds of applause and was both praised and discussed all across America. He used pathos as a means of relating to the greater audience and touches their hearts.

Obama’s speech on race was a part of his campaign while he was running for the presidential election in 2009. He speaks to the American people with the purpose to gather them and with spirit of fellowship to creates a unity and patriotism. A unity where everyone stands together and in jointly could make the world a better place for everyone, no matter

President Barack Obama spoke his remarks at Howard University commencement ceremony for the class of 2016. This special moment in the speech is honoring people of color, especially African Americans and made history at this University, having the president to present his speech (Donnella). Obama explained how America was different when he graduated college and society is now accepting new cultures and backgrounds within today’s workforce and education. Obama wants the audience to take opportunities and learning new skills to expand their education.

Obama uses syntax and repetition devices, and organization to convince on the line of opposing voters of this goal.

President Obama, like all Presidents before him, delivered a farewell address to the United States on January 20, 2017. As he stepped down as President he was eloquent and it was as clear as ever that he is a master of oration. Obama will go down in history as the first Black President as well as a strong orator who had the ability to captivate an audience through his use of ethos, pathos and logos amongst other rhetorical devices. His farewell address is a perfect example of Obama’s mastery of discourse as it is chock full of oratorical devices. Obama’s message to the American people and to the rest of the world is that it is essential that we maintain a sense of what it means to have a democracy and that in order to maintain peace and

The strongest of Obama’s points reside in his use of pathos, or emotional appeal, to connect with his audience. The audience and appeal are blatant from the beginning of the essay to the final word. Americans. Due to the loss of American lives, the emotional charge within the audience is almost palpable. Obama highlights this when he states:

Obama delivers a descriptive speech that includes situations and issues that are familiar to the audience. Throughout his speech, he is composed and conversational: makes continuous eye contact; looks presentable and comfortable; uses no vocal fillers and made appropriate pauses. He voiced his thoughts openly and with optimism and delivered a speech that addressed the people’s concerns. Americans expect a President to embody the attributes of a leader’s confidence, effective communication, commitment, and intuition. Obama illustrated that he is not only a leader but also a President America can depend on. He creates a formal diction using sophisticated syntax and eloquent word choices such as “corrosive” and “consensus”. From beginning to end he holds the attention of his audience through a series of common goals he believes that can be reached

The rhetorical appeals that were set forth in this speech were mainly, logos (logical thinking), ethos (ethics and moral connections) and pathos (focus on sadness and tragedy). First off, logos were all about logical thinking and the only logical thinking is that there are problems in American, major problems, that need to be addressed in order for us to live in harmony with each other in this nation. Ethos is the ethics and morals of the American people that if we fix the root of the problem, which Obama sees it as a one nation type problem, but in all reality that it’s not just one rooted problem, it branches upon branches of problems that stemmed from our racial background as immigrants to North America. Obama displays pathos situations a lot in this article he produced. Pathos comes down to playing on the heart strings of America to try and relate that our

Barack Obama was the 44th president of the United States of America and the first African American president. During his presidential campaign in 2008 Obama gave a speech in Philadelphia called, “A More Perfect Union.” His speech moved millions of Americans and inspired racial cooperation and societal change. Obama called for acceptance of all colors and for people to realize that the government is, and never will be perfect; however, he also says it is time to take action and instill change, rather than just talking about change. Obama most effectively convinces his audience of this with pathos and by including antitheses and repetition, which helps him evoke passion in his audience.

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

President Barack H. Obama has been always using rhetorical strategies in his political speeches. He used these strategies to present important pointes and views of his in front of public. Delivering points and views properly and logically got him to be the president in the first place. President Obama used mostly ethos and pathos yet some logos to deliver his inaugural and the state of union speeches. Being that, he was able to reach audience emotionally and make the speech flow efficiently while he preserved his credibility. Each speech has own audience that differ from the other. In the inaugural speech the audience was the public and therefor the speech was short and used sort sentences that are easy to understand. On the other hand, the state of union speech audience was mostly the congers members and therefore the language was more specific and filled with political terminology. Both speeches will be discussed upon context and using ethos, pathos and logos consecutively.