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Polarization in US politics
Critique on obama 2012 victory speech
Analysis of barack obama inaugural address
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The American people need to unite in order to be able to focus on other issues in the United States. Without solving this underlying problem first, solving other issues will be a hassle. Once this issue is solved, only then can we branch out and start to solve the other problems plaguing the United States such as a discord between race, crime, and terrorism. Rather than focusing so much on the differences between each race, the American people should learn how to respect each other’s differences. Obama’s and Trump’s speeches overlap on the issues of violence and crime that are plaguing the United States. However, for the rest of their speeches, they do not discuss the same subjects. Obama stays on the broad topic of unity between the people …show more content…
However, the two have contrasting ideas on how to go about solving the issue. Obama’s solution involves a unity between the people. Rather than having discord between the different races, ethnicities, and religions, he suggests a sense of respect. Even though one might not particularly agree with a certain belief, the individual should still respect the belief. Trump, on the other hand, takes on the approach that a certain group should be eradicated as shown in the lines, “... against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth.” He blames Muslims for the terrorism and violence in this world. President Trump’s solution for this issue is very narrow. While Obama takes on a much more broad world view in his farewell speech, Trump’s address was more centered around the successes of America. He specifically says, “America will start winning again.” When going about discussing such an important issue, it is essential to present any solution very carefully to ensure that a plan was not just thrown together haphazardly. Especially when the topic at hand is extremely
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
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
At the time of this speech, Barack Obama is running for the Democratic Presidential candidate, as well as being called into question when his former pastor publicly accused the government of committing hateful acts against black Americans. He addresses the American public, then tries to persuade them to recognize that he understands both the white Americans and the black Americans. He uses ‘we’ and ‘us’ to show that he truly views the people as one as opposed to various separate groups, “. we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together, unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction.”
“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.
President Obama’s memorial speech following the Tuscan shooting carefully utilized the Aristotelian appeal of pathos, or emotional appeals through his word choice, which aligned him with the American people while still conveying a sense of authority, and his use of biblical allusions, which drew his audience together on the basis of shared ideologies.
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”.
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.
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.
“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate” (Kennedy 464). He builds a thought within the audience about being strong and talks later on about what makes people fearful and why it shouldn’t make them fearful. He explains how people should be ready to face obstacles and judgements that they put on themselves. Like being easily offended or being selfish, these circumstances cannot make people fearful. For example, now a days Americans blame immigrants for taking their jobs and for the increase in crime but if they looked past that judgement and worked with immigrants for a better place they could come up with a solution. Maybe immigrants have skills that Americans don’t have and if they work together, immigrants could share those skills with Americans and become better. He’s insistent on working together throughout his speech and the good outcomes that could come out of working together. He also asks the audience a rhetorical question, “ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country” (Kennedy 464). Again, he puts a selfless thought in the audience about forgetting judgments and obstacles and focusing on building a successful country. He brings in a sense of patriotism for the audience to feel obligated to work for a better country. Focusing on his idea of change and how change will come
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
Have you ever watched the Presidential Inaugural Address? Well, you should because you can learn what the new president wants to do with the country you are living in. I analyzed Barack Obama and George Washington’s Inaugural Addresses. There were many differences and similarities between Barack Obama and George Washington’s that I will further explain in this essay. One difference was that Obama’s speech was about trust while Washington’s was about the citizens rights for the new nation. One similarity is that both speeches talked about what each person wanted to do as president. Barack Obama and George Washington's Inaugural Addresses made a big impact on the country.
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.
Obama being a president of the newer America talked about the problems with the economy, unifying our nations in the world and the inequalities that still occur in our own nation. Obama states that, “We remain the most prosperous and powerful nation on Earth…Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.” By the time Obama got into office, America was struck with an economic disaster, countless natural disasters that still affected our country and the terrorist attacks that still left a hole in our country with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was a time where we needed something new and something to push us forward in the future. The inequality in America that Obama spoke of being th...