Rhetorical Analysis Of John 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

Barack Obama's powerful diction creates hope for the future of the United States with word choices such as “continue,” “shifted” and “ambitions.” Barack’s shift from informal to formal diction constructs an image of unity through the usage of simple, personal pronouns, such as “we” and “us.” The shifts from informal to formal and back appeal to the emotions of the audience because they feel as if Obama is talking directly to them. His allusions to the Bible are sentimental because when he says "the God given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness" he creates a bond between himself and his audience. His words have a motivating connotation that appeal to both logos and pathos. The way in which Barack Obama presents his ideas allows his audience to have confidence in him and his role as president.

Though, knowing some of Obama’s background, it seems as if he was trying to get a point across. The point I have mention before, our differences should not separate us but unite us. Obama speech is inspiring, because he mentions how we all come from different backgrounds and we have our racist view points, but these points are simply from the past in which hardly anyone today has lived in. If we could overlook all the bad from the past and the negativity from being from different communities, we could have a better and stronger nation. Obama also uses his own background as a way to show how we can overcome different ethic backgrounds. It may be hard in some ways but as he states in his speech, “These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.” We are all apart of America, a country that we love, and we are surrounded by the people we love. Yes, we do come from all sorts of ethnic backgrounds, and some may be a mix of many. This is the inspiring part from his speech. Even though he gets many view points from his family and is from a mix of ethnic backgrounds, all that matters is that his family is apart of him and he loves them for who they are not the ethnicity.

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

Move over, parents and teachers. Someone with even more authority wants to tell kids to work harder in school: the president of the United States of America. In 2009, in the first year of his presidency, Barack Obama opened the school year with a speech to students, asking them to take charge of their own education. His speech, which he filled with many anecdotes meant to establish credibility and create inspiration, sent students an important message about their education. However, Obama could have made his speech stronger if he had avoided several missteps in the content and delivery of his message.

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

Obama introduced his speech greeted the audience, and since the beginning he identified himself as one more citizen of the America, by refereeing to his broadly audience as “his fellow citizens,” (Klein) which was an effective way to have the people attention. Then he grounded his words on the Constitution of the United States to introduce his thesis about how the patriots of 1776 fought to give us a republic and a government that defended the rights of its people. He also presented the main points of his speech, and concluded his introduction by sharing common past experiences about the economic success achieved and about the importance of protecting the most vulnerable. This way he put his ideas in context and made his address more credible.

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:

President Obama conveys pathos his ability to empathize with the people of America about the issues that were going on throughout the country by expressing his dedication to fixing them. Obama appeals to the anger of American citizens on by showing knowledge of the economic struggle by saying "Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered."(15) Also that "Our health care is too costly, our schools fail

He acknowledges that the resentments of the black and white communities “aren’t always expressed in polite company,” but these resentments are manifested within our society in destructive ways, like racism (Obama, par. 31). The audience feels that he is knowledgeable and credible on the immediate topics affecting our future and our daily lives.

He says, ““I don’t have to tell you how many are still denied their basic rights… who must live a lie to keep their jobs, or who are afraid to walk the street, or down the hall at school” and this is when he starts building the emotional connection with his audience. This is when first his audience see pathos, but at the same time he is encouraging them to fight for the gays rights and to give them a better treatment. Obama said. “I said I would never counsel patience; that it wasn’t right to tell you… that it was right to tell African Americans to be patient in the fight for equal rights a half century ago” in other words he is using the pathos appeals to support his opinion and let people know or to rethink how fighting in a civic movement would be significant later. The way Obama express himself to support his claims are extremely under the rhetorical appeals ethos and pathos by providing the explanation of actions that back then were not a completely success but that now have a significant impact into the community.

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

Since Obama was young he has lived a life of struggles and hardships, from his mother and father not staying together. The constant moving around even to different parts of the world. Obama has chosen to be the example that America has seen. He has taken the hard times he has been dealt and focused on to try to help other people’s struggles. Obama had chosen to work in the community to fix the problems in Chicago. This speaks a lot of