Obama on Racial Unity

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Obama on Racial Unity

In the 2008 speech “A More Perfect Union” Senator Barack Obama illustrates himself as a diverse and benevolent leader to repeal said exigencies of him being anti-American and win over American votes. Obama constructs ethos by mentioning he has experienced the luxuries and poverties this world has to offer, attracting rich and poor alike. The tone used by Obama experiences many shifts to appeal to the diverse audience and win their understanding that he hopes can turn into a vote. The speech ultimately achieved its purpose as it aided Obama achieving his utmost goal; becoming President of The United States of America.

The Senator builds up his ethos by using many flashbacks and his experience with both rich and poor: black and white. Barack Obama mentions that he is “The son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas” to infer that he knows the perspective points of both blacks and whites. This creates credibility for Obama, facilitating the transmission of his message to the public. Obama also evokes feelings patriotism for the fact that he states that he was” Raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton’s Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at fort Leavenworth”, Obama states this mostly to get the attention of the white community and furthermore expand his argument in terms of diversity. As well as the white community, Obama also address the black community by mentioning that he is “Married to a black American who carries within her blood of slaves and slave-owners” to get their support and bring both communities together as one and talk about the state issues. Obama further constructs his characte...

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...s America like he does, it is because he was stained by segregation and still sees America as if African-Americans are still being oppressed. He states this to get America to stop viewing him as an anti-American pastor and get them to see him as a reminder of the mistake we did many years back; segregation.

Obama explicitly forged this speech to repeal the accusations of him being anti-American and achieve the people’s vote. The way he appealed to the audience is interesting because he was able to unite both communities he talked about and discuss why Reverend Wright is his pastor and why he cannot just “disown” him. To reject the exigencies of Obama being anti-American, Obama uses ethos to gain the trust of the people and tone to appeal to blacks and whites. This speech was ultimately successful as it resulted in the election of Barrack Obama as President.

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