When Barack Obama was elected in 2008 his supporters had many high expectations. Here was a man who had just became the first man of color to be elected President of the United States of America, the most powerful nation in the face of the planet and the leader of the free world. Taking on this role was no easy feat as though Obama had inherited the greatest recession the United States had experienced since the Great Depression of the 1930s, millions of Americans were losing their homes. Occupied with this domestic crisis, he did not have much of his time and attention on another mess the Bush administration had left him to fix, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In face of all this turmoil, Obama soothed his people with the motto “Change, we can.” That was the catchphrase and mentality going into his administration. But that was on the only motto his administration had. During Obama’s presidential campaign, he did an easy job at depicting the Republicans as incapable and stupid people. And so Obama’s remedy to fixing problems was “don’t do stupid stuff”, this would later on be used as a doctrine for his foreign policy and United States involvement in the world up until the last days of his second term. Since the end of the Cold War, a large number of neoconservatives had risen in influence in Washington. With a very hawkish, realist outlook, these “neocons” advocated America using its full military might to preserve its role as the sole hegemon in the international system.
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 Barack obama's speech he talked about Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our nation's economy is badly weakened, as a result of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also the failure of all of us to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. The nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. The nation's economy is badly weakened, as a result of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also the failure of all of us to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. This were all obama’s speech and not all his goals were
The American “way of war” can be seen politically through the evolution of military policy as political perspectives changed. Post-World War II reveals primary and consistent policies that lead American military policymakers to avoid major international conflict. Coined the Cold War, Americans began waging war
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
The United States “regular[ly] resort[s] to war” on the foundation of a “militant foreign policy,” which is associated with a “hegemonic national identity.”3 According to Hixson, the militancy of foreign policy stems from western Europe whose “colonialism and imperialism…flowed from the aggressive expansion of a…worldview that apotheosized its way of life as ordered, reasoned and providentially
President Obama came into office in the aftermath of the disastrous foreign policy record of the Bush administration. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 had served as a “switchman,” leading to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Bush administration exercised unilateral use of force and reluctance to engage the international community. As a result global elites and publics viewed the US unfavorably. The US economy was negatively affected by the costs of the wars coupled with the financial crisis of 2007. It was this environment that defined the contours of the election campaign of 2008. Obama campaigned on the idea of change, which represented a regeneration of America through domestic public policy reform and a return to multilateralism in foreign policy. Both domestic and international publics and elites were galvanized by Obama’s message.
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
In order to move forward with anything in life it requires leaving the past behind. This is essential to restoration and growth in all aspects of life. With growth and restoration doors can be opened. Not only can that result in the idea of change but actually show evidence of it. But this act cannot be done alone. It requires more than one to stand together to complete this challenge. With voices heard and actions done, Senator Barack Obama believes that this can be accomplished while giving his speech “A More Perfect Union”. Obama argues that the problems we have today are from the past. He states they still remain because we allow them to control us and the world we live. In doing this he reminds us that this can be
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
Many of his essays were on the history ideas. Most neocons believe that the US has allowed dangers to gather by not spending enough on defense and not confronting threats aggressively enough. One such threat, they contend, was Saddam Hussein and his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. Since the 1991 Gulf War, neocons have advocated for Hussein's removal. Most neocons share unwavering support for Israel, which they see as crucial to US military sufficiency in a volatile region. They also see Israel as a critical piece of democracy in a region ruled by dictators. They believe that authoritarianism and theocracy have allowed anti-Americanism to flourish in the Middle East, neocons advocate the democratic transformation of the region, starting with Iraq. They also believe the US is unnecessarily hampered by multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, which they do not trust to effectively deal with threats to global
This year, President Obama’s State of the Union Address pressured many Americans to take action and to face today’s issues with pride and pure grit. His points showed that the nation is better off today than it has ever been in the past. Our nation’s history began when our founding fathers began the fight to break away from our previous leader’s horrific rule. They knew that the rules needed to be created by the people and for the people, for good only and to support the nation. They knew that breaking and twisting their own rules to better the state of the union was
Obama tells us in his speech that crisis needs to be fixed by change. He even admits that some people don’t believe his proposed actions are the answer to our problems. Obama tries to solve this by telling them his action’s, which not stated, are the answer. This is a very poor attempt at persuasion on his part.
I do not question the governance of Barack Obama but it is true that he had sought to protect 100% of immigrants from other countries or had sought ways to eliminate the lack of food in poor countries. however, for my Obama is and will remain the best president that the United States has had, the only one that achieved the union of nations, the increase economically and many more things, the wars diminished thanks to him. I am sure that in this essay you could notice that there were many benefits that the Obama administration brought and that was the objective of this essay, to show people the great facts of Mr. Barack Obama ex-president of the United States, without a doubt the great
Broadly defined, neo-conservativism advocates the assertive promotion of democracy and US national interests through military supremacy and interventionist foreign policy. It places the United States as the overseer of international peace. With this in mind, Mr. Kristol promotes three major concepts. First, American internationalism, also referred to as “exceptionalism,” is the belief that America’s mission goes beyond policing to provide a model for the rest of the world. Mr. Kristol advances his argument by pointing to Presidents Truman, Kennedy, and Regan. Common to all was the belief that the security and survival of the United States
Striving for change. The statement made by Obama holds the same meaning when trying to