Barack Obama Iraq War Speech Analysis Speeches are used to express opinions and ideas to a range of people at once. In October 2002, Barack Obama gave a speech to the nation of America where he opposed president George Bush’s plan to send American troops to Iraq. It was believed that Iraq’s leader had obtained weapons of mass destruction, which would threaten the safety of the United States. Bush believed that sending American troops to fight in Iraq would resolve the issue whereas Obama believed that fighting in Iraq would lead to bigger problems for the Middle East. Obama uses many language techniques, which are found in many memorable speeches. A variety of techniques enable Obama to help convince his audience of his propositions. Obama’s …show more content…
He repeatedly uses words such as ‘Lets,’we,’ to attempt to gather an audience to support his point of view. Obama also uses words such as ‘you’ to speak directly to his audience making him seem ‘down to earth.’ To relate to his audience Obama uses an anecdote of his grandfather to demonstrate to his viewers that he is not anti-war. As many Americans would have had grandfathers who went to war, Obama shares his grandfather’s story to prove that he is not ‘anti-war’ to the patriotic Americans. Demonstrating his commitment Obama states, “I would willingly take up arms myself,” earning himself a lot of respect from patriotic …show more content…
Obama uses a lot of repetition throughout his speech to emphasise his points and ensure that his audience does not forget his points. He continually states, “I don’t oppose all wars,” and “What I am opposed to,” to ensure that his critics understand that he is not the leader of an ‘anti-war’ rally. Obama also continually uses the statement a ‘dumb war’ to remind his audience of his view that fighting in Iraq is unnecessary. The politician also uses many metaphors in his speech, which helps create a descriptive image for the audience. “…An invasion of Iraq…will only fan the flames of the Middle East,” states Obama. The metaphor fanning the flames helps the audience follow Obama’s decision that going to war in Iraq will only make things worse and will not end up putting out the fire. Obama repeatedly asks the same rhetorical question throughout his speech which is directed at President Bush. “You want a fight President Bush?” Obama continually directs this question to Bush to portray to his listeners that Bush is looking for a fight. The rhetorical question is used to create a dichotomy of good and bad, which Obama subtly attempts to make Bush seem like the ‘bad
Franklin Roosevelt’s speech says the following, “Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.” Roosevelt uses words such as “stubbornness”, “incompetence”, and “unscrupulous” to underline the absence of morals in these money changers that have failed the American people. Barack Obama’s speech says the following, “Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.” Obama uses words such as “violence”, “hatred”, and “weakened” to stress the wrongdoing that have been committed by the previous leaders of the country. Both of the presidents use emotive language to illustrate the wrongdoings that have been committed by the previous
The structure of a speech is how it is organized. In President Barack Obama’s address to the nation, the structure of his speech is organized into three parts: a sincere opening, the main point, and then a sincere closing. In the opening of his speech, President Obama offers condolences and is sincere to the situation at hand. As he progresses in his speech, he reaches his main point of the need for a more restricted gun control policy. In the body of his speech, he loses some sincerity and focuses on the present situation and how to resolve the issue. Then, he closes his speech the way he began it, by being sincere and reaching out to the ones who were suffering. This particular way of organizing his speech was effective in supporting his argument. By opening his speech in a sincere way, he caught the attention of anyone listening because of his kind words. After he had their attention, he addressed the need to come together as a nation and end the awful violence. Then he ended by offering comfort to families. This specific structure buries the more controversial topic of gun control which causes people to feel more sympathetic making them more willing to listen to his message even if they support the right to bear
Jeffrey, T. P. (2013, August 31). Obama to Congress: I Don't Need Your Authorization for War, But Give It to Me Anyway | CNS News. Retrieved March 20, 2014
Rhetorical analysis assignment: President’s Address to the Nation. Since the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration has been calling on all citizens and all nations to support his Middle East policy. Nonetheless, the U.S. has been involved in the Middle East struggle for more than half of the century, wars were waged and citizens were killed.
Bush opens his speech by acknowledging the events of September 11, and those that lost the lives of loved ones and to those that gave their life trying to save others in the buildings. He appeals to those that remain strong by saying that, “These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong.” His use of pathos helps Bush to calm and control the public in order to keep the country together. This
He implements this emotional appeal into his speech to involve all Americans—people living in the United States of America, regardless of their ethnicity, race, or culture, and to acknowledge that the American people have endured this together, and that they will continue to advance after this event with stronger resolve, stronger than ever. In addition, he implements personification to motivate and empower the American people. “Our nation, this generation, will lift a dark threat of violence from our people and our future” (Bush, 2001). “This generation”, again a synonym for the American people, with its unwavering resolve, will fight for its freedom persistently. He intimates that the future of America and of democratic freedom is in the hands of the American people; that the American people have the power to control their fate.
He uses allusion and repetition of words to prove his points about racial discrimination. His main goal is for the country to stay united and put discrimination aside, and continue the path of the ones who came before us. Obama alludes to the civil war by saying,” continue the long march” which illustrates the march that the north did to the south to stop race discrimination, as well as the fact how the north opposed with slavery and wanted to make south stop (1). The other device he uses in his speech was the repetition of words by using the word “more” to express his main goal and focus. Although the country is so called “free” his main goal is still to improve America in every way possible and put race discrimination completely aside. In the speech, he expresses his tone by saying,” more just, more equal, more free, more caring, and more prosperous America.” Which goes to the fact that he is trying to even improve America more in every way possible. If we improve our country even more, then we will not be having any issues in our
From the beginning, and throughout his speech he used in the most effective way rhetorical tools to support his beliefs. The rhetoric tool such as ethos, pathos and logos. He used ethos used to gives his audience a better understanding of who his character is. For him to establish an effective speech of ethos, Obama had to present himself in a way that will make the audience believe in his beliefs as well. In this speech Obama creates his ethos in many different ways that gives his speech not only credibility but, validity also. Obama does
Bush demonstrates that with the use of metaphors, personification, and also repetition. Using metaphor, he compares America to steel, saying that America is like steel, but not pliable. Portraying that whatever dangerous act comes to America, America will stay strong and not move. Personification is to explain the reasoning behind the terrorists’ operations and the motives behind this move. Bush gives feeling and visualization traits to the nation, consequently putting it in the nation’s point of view, highlighting what the nation felt and saw. Repetition is to bring America together and strengthen everyone. It is to show that this heartbreaking event did not just affect the victims, but it affects the entire country. The way Bush uses repetition to get the people of America together makes America stronger because the more a country is together, the more power and strength it will possess. As a final point, President Bush’s usage of these three rhetorical devices grabs the attention of the people and helps Bush express the type of tone he wants to get
From his extremely vivid imagery at the beginning to his conclusion that America plans to seek a solution with Russia and other nations, the president’s flow from using pathos to logos to ethos made his speech very effective and compelling. His argument was backed up and supported all through out his speech, which helped his audience believe that what he was saying is true and important. However, his speech would have been nothing without the implication and opinion that America is the strongest nation in the world. Although this point is debatable, it is our duty to help other nations. We definitely do an excellent job at helping other nations and always having their best interests at heart. I believe this was the main goal for Obama’s speech; a plan to protect the United States. The use of logos, ethos and pathos just helped his speech to be more persuasive and
He makes sure his audience connects with him directly by making them feel at his level, and at hiss. This way he connects to the audience, and in exchange, helps his statement of unity. Using various examples of parallelism, anaphora and refrain, Obama brands the theme of equality and togetherness in our country throughout the speech, vital to gaining the respect of his audience. Obama recalls the ‘enduring strength of the constitution’ by delving into the past alluding to America’s allegiance to the Declaration of Independence by quoting “we hold these truths. that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.
It was a brief speech that captivated a lot of matters that concern the American citizens exclusively and the world inclusively. He divided his speech into different sectors which are citizens’ sacrifice, the idea of service, adopting changes, promise of wealth, government harmony and dignity. The language used in the speech was flawless and applicable to the audience, who was the public, since he was using every day vocabulary. Therefore, the speech has a strong structure that can be easily understood by the majority of people. The audience typically will and was the American citizens, but since the United States has many international relationships, President Obama was trying to reach beyond the nationwide concerns and meet a mutual background....
On July 27, 2004, Barack Obama made arguably his most important speech, “The Audacity of Hope”, at the Democratic National Convention Keynote Address. These conventions are for political parties to announce a winner for nomination. All the way through his piece, Obama focuses on connecting Americans and himself to the audience. In fact, at the time, Barack Obama was a US Senate candidate for the United States president, and in making this speech, was offered a window for raising his popularity. Throughout “The Audacity of Hope” speech, Barack Obama implements three main devices to raise his political popularity: repetition, abstract language, and structure.
The repeated use of the phrase, “Yes we can”, draws out contradictory ideas from the audience’s mind. Furthermore, the frequent use of contrasting concepts such as, “…as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights,” leads the audience to subconsciously compare the two, and anticipate the greater. The frequency of the phrase is also spread out, which creates a greater familiarity of the idea, leading to gradual acceptance. In addition, Obama deliberately begins his sentences with the same couple of words, for example: “We will…”, “We’ve been…” or “That’s…” followed by positive ideas about the U.S, Americans or what the future will bring. This effectively makes his statements stand out greater than they are, and easier to remember.
He begins by indirectly reciting the American dream through explaining the background of his parents and how his father “grew up herding goats,” but was able to to come to America though his hardwork and perseverance. America for his parents was the ultimate “beacon of freedom” and gave himself the opportunity to speak to his fellow Americans on such a platform. His mom like many other “studied on the G.I Bill, bought a house through FHA” and was able to move westward in search of own destiny. Obama essentially outlines the American dream and although his name is different from theirs they are one in the same through the sacrifices his parents made and because his story and theirs are apart of the larger American story. Obama further appeals to Americans through his immense patriotism for a country that made his story and many others possible.