Analysis Of Obama Speech

876 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: President obama rhetorical analysis

On March 18, 2008, in the midst of the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination, Barack Obama manage to give one of the most persuasive and significant speeches that has gone down in American history. Obama developed a strikingly effective speech that trails his audience into a controversial issue and encourages them to join his attempt to abolish inequality. Obama’s speech is powerful because although the public is mindful of the discrepancy between races, it draws attention due to Obama publicly speaking on topics that often go unspoken of. “A more perfect Union” was made to address Reverend Jeremiah Wright and also address global issues concerning the Americans people. Obama’s former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright openly made some controversial statements that caused uneasiness with Senator Obama. Obama explains how Reverend Jeremiah Wright lived during a time period where racism and segregation was allowed and goes to explain how many Americans including Reverend Wright still has animosity and fury built based on the past. Obama feels that anger that Americans have built up over the years is what is preventing our country from prevailing into a better nation and moving forward. Barack Obama’s main objective for this speech is to exchange his views on the controversial topic of race and inequality in American in his effort to creating a more perfect union. Obama successfully persuaded the audience in a credible, emotional yet logical way. Obama’s speech was brilliantly put together to appeal to the audience in every way possible and to get his message across.
Barack Obama crafted his speech to begin with an ethical appeal, which became the most effective appeal in order to establish character. Beginning with “We the peo...

... middle of paper ...

...eal issues that America is faced with. Obama successfully chose such a controversial topic like racism and supposed it with logical solutions.
Obama successfully used ethos, logos and pathos to appeal to the audience. With the use of rhetorical strategies the audience was left filling closer to the speaker and gained a connection. With Obama’s tone being determined yet patriotic this speech became more persuasive and appealing to the American audience. “A more perfect Union” was crafted to unite Americans and persuade them to act now and fix the real problems in America. Using rhetorical strategies, it allowed Obama to open up a door on such a sensitive topic like the existence of racism and allowed him to transform it into a subject that become empowering and had the purpose to create unity and bring everyone together not as different races but as one country.

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Obama And Roosevelt's Inaugural Address

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    The purpose of an “inaugural address” is to inform the people of his or her intentions as a leader. Two of the most prominent inaugural addresses throughout history are Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s and Barack Obama’s. Franklin Roosevelt’s inaugural address stands the test of time because it gave the American people hope that they may overcome the terrible Great Depression. Similarly, Barack Obama’s address is well known because it inspired millions that we will be lifted out of economic crisis, but it was also remembered as the first inaugural address from an African American president. The inauguration speeches of Franklin Roosevelt and Barack Obama use the rhetorical devices parallelism, allusions, and emotive language to convey their messages

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of A More Perfect Union By Peter Clark

    1267 Words  | 3 Pages

    Roy Peter Clark, author of “A More Perfect Union”: Why It Worked, takes a stance on President Barack Obama’s speech while analyzing it. President Barack Obama delivered a speech titled “A More Perfect Union.” His speech focused on the prominent issue of racism in America. In this article, Clark talks about President Obama’s known power and brilliance. Clark makes references and comparisons to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and W.EB. DuBois. “A More Perfect Union” features writing techniques that makes the message more defined and effective. President Obama utilizes four closely related rhetorical strategies. Clark broadly explains the purpose of the rhetorical strategies. Allusion, parallelism, two-ness, and autobiography helped to shape President Obama’s speech that that was meant to create

    Read More

  • Barack Obama Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Logos In A More Perfect Union By Barack Obama

    1149 Words  | 3 Pages

    “A More Perfect Union” was delivered by Barack Obama on March 18, 2008. At the time her gave the speech he was senator and running in the president election. Obama responded to his former pastor Jeremiah Wright, and also discussed the issue with race in America. This problem is important to us as a whole, because we went through plenty of racism in the past. He wants the prevent those incidents from according again. He did an excellent job using rhetoric tools to support his beliefs, which led to a successful election.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of President George W. Bush Acceptance Speech

    1966 Words  | 4 Pages

    On November 2, 2004, President George W. Bush was nominated and elected for his second and final term of presidency. Throughout the course of his term, a vast amount of controversy revolved around the actions of President Bush. Some of the main matters that were significant during his first presidency were the issues of abortion, pro-choice versus pro-life, and AIDS, which led to a fluctuation in his popularity with the masses. However, even with these issues, the unforgettable tragedy of September 11, 2001, and the start of the Iraq War, Bush was reelected to President of the United States despite everything he had going against him.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of A More Perfect Union

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 2008, democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama gave a speech, now named “A More Perfect Union”, in response to the controversy over his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, making some very racist remarks against whites and accusing the United States of bringing on the September 11 attacks by spreading terrorism. In his speech, Obama uses many rhetorical strategies including repetition, parallelism, allusion, and metaphors in order to make his statement that, regardless of race, the American people need to work together side by side as one in this time of need to achieve the same goal— achieving a better, more perfect union of America. Near the beginning of his speech, Obama declares, speaking of the U.S.A, that “This nation is more than the sum of its parts.” This is a metaphor meaning that the nation forms a stronger combination of people than you would expect by looking at each individual person. He uses this metaphor to explain that an individual will not be able to make much of a difference towards improving America, but if many people work together they can achieve great things and actually make changes that help solve some of the problems our country faces today.

    Read More

  • Barack Obama And Adversity

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    In contempt of Obama’s humble giving spirit, vivid personality, and many accomplishments, a debate is always at hand upon hearing the infamous name Barack Hussein Obama. From his place of birth, religion, and ethnicity Obama’s face a fair share of controversy. At the heels of adversity along with sheer determination to help others Obama became a leader that delivers and one of the most influential people of America. Adversity was introduced to Obama at an early age. With a Kenyan father and Caucasian mother residing in Hawaii, Obama has always stood out in numerous ways. In 1959 Barack Obama Senior was selected from a number of candidates to go to school in the US where he attended The University of Hawaii in Honolulu to

    Read More

  • President Obama’s Inaugural Speech: Rhetorical Analysis

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    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”.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of The Eulogy Of Barack Obama's Speech

    834 Words  | 2 Pages

    In President Barack Obama’s eulogy for Reverend Clementa Pinckney and others who died in the Charleston Church Shooting, delivered on June 26, 2015 at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, he commemorates Reverend Pinckney and at the same time advocates for his own political agenda. President Obama shifts between black and presidential registers, weaves the ideas of grace, sight, and blindness throughout the speech, and cultivates his ethos to better connect with his audience, the American people, not only African Americans or Christians. President Obama addresses the American public during this racially charged time in order to remember the lives lost during the shooting, to promote his political views, and to unify the all Americans.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis of Obama’s First Two Speeches as President

    1339 Words  | 3 Pages

    President Barack H. Obama has been always using rhetorical strategies in his political speeches. He used these strategies to present important points 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 the audience emotionally and make the speech flow efficiently while he preserved his credibility. Each speech has own audience that differs from the other. In the inaugural speech the audience was the public and therefor the speech was short and used short sentences that are easy to understand. On the other hand, the state of union speech’s 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.

    Read More

  • I Have A Dream Speech

    1478 Words  | 3 Pages

    King peacefully pleads for racial tolerance and the end of segregation by appealing to the better side of white Americans. His attempt to persuade America about the justice of his cause, and to gain support for the civil rights movement was emotionally moving. He spoke to all races, but his rhetoric was patriotic, and culturally similar to, and focused on African-Americans. He was able to make practical use of a history many Americans are proud of. The use of repetition reinforced his words making it simpler and more straightforward to follow. His speech remains powerful because it is still relevant today, like economic injustices and stereotyping. This reading can be applied to remedying current issues of stereotyping, racism, and discrimination by changing white racial resentment and eliminating racial

    Read More

  • Values In Lincoln And Obama's Second Inaugural Speeches

    771 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “A More Perfect Union”, Obama asked the audience to view themselves through the eyes of the others (Terrill 371). Instead of imposing a moral superiority of one side of the audience like Lincoln did or telling the audience to ignore the diversity, Obama asked the people to embrace their differences and acknowledge the others. In referring to the perspective of black people, he said, “A lack of economic opportunity among black men and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family contributed to the erosion of black families...” Meanwhile, to show how some white people might feel, he narrated, “...when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudice, resentment builds over time.” By juxtaposing two different perspectives, Obama tried to ask for agreement that people’s anxiety over racial problems is

    Read More

  • Analysis Of An Indian's Looking Glass For The White Man

    1492 Words  | 3 Pages

    William Apess then asks his mostly white audience to reexamine their Christian values along with their prejudices. His essay acknowledges that unless the discrimination and prejudices that plague the white man over the other races disappear, then there won’t be peace in the Union.

    Read More

  • Barack Obama: A More Perfect Union

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    We may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction. Barack Obama’s speech “A More Perfect Union” (Nov. 17, 2008) captivates our nation with its thought out structure of the division and inequality in America. Obama successfully used allusion and repetition. Along with personal anecdotes to identify with the audience.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Barack Mandela's Speech

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    Barack Obama has made no secret that over the past three decades Nelson Mandela has been the greatest influence in his life. Coming from an African ancestry, Obama drew inspiration from Mandela’s life and influenced Obama to take himself upon a journey of self-discovery and find his own voice (Obama, 2004). The repercussions of Mandela’s inspirational work caused Obama to become a part of an anti-apartheid divestment movement in college and to shift to focusing on law and politics (Epstein, 2013). Now that Barack Obama has become President of the United States of America, he has consistently quoted Mandela in all his keynote speeches speaking of freedom and equality and his actions and words are inspired by the desire to emulate Mandela’s powerful actions and movements and the examples that he set, in the 21st century (Killough, 2013). Even within the tribute to Mandela, Obama (2013) says “You can make his life’s work your own…It stirred something ...

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Obama Speech

Open Document