Obama Rhetorical Devices

President Obama is a great orator who uses many rhetorical devices in his speech. Of all strategies used, Obama mainly used all types to build his own credibility while also provoking the audience to think in a more unified manner.

In his speech, he uses many devices one being irony. President Obama talks about the past when he says, "and yet words on parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage" (5). President Obama is really talking about how ironic it is for the US to fight for independence for all Americans and slaves not being included, given that the country was buiilt on their backs. He uses this device of irony because it makes the reader realize that if the US wants to progress, we have to include all Americans.

He is trying to address the racial problem in America. The US is for every American, not just one type. When the audience hears or realizes how ironic this is it may put them in a more unified state of mind, which is the purpose of President Obama's speech.

Another strategy that President Obama uses in his speech to build credibility is he writes or speaks in a style to establish ethos, which mean he wants the audience to believe what he has to say.

When President Obama talks about his own story he says, "I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a depression to serve in Patton's army during WWII" (8). This is an ethos style of writing. What President Obama is basically saying is that he is the son and grandson of the people who helped contribute to his nation's success. This style of writing is used to build his credibility because the reader when hearing this will be encouraged to think that Obama's upbringing was around hard working Americans, so he must know the struggle of the average American and he must believe in the progression of America. Another device President Obama uses is an oxymoron. He implements this into his writing when he says, "out of many we are truly one" (8) This phrase cannot stand true, how are you one with many beings? This strategy is truly effective because it gets the audience to once again think in a unified state of mind and to join and move together as a whole which is the goal of the

speech.

Out of all devices, the most clever one President Obama used to get his point across is a paradox. One of the whole reasons this speech is being addressed is because his Pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, made an controversial statement that made the audience question Obama's beliefs as well. However, he uses a paradox when he says, "But the truth is the man I met 20 years ago is an honorable and hard-working man who helped me to be introduced into Christianity" (17). The reason the device is effective is because it builds his and his pastors' credibility. At first, everyone perceives his pastor as ignorant and foolish, but Obama explains the good in him as well. It makes the audience stop and think that maybe the way things are is not as it seems. This will eventually let the guard down of the audience and allow them to hear Obama for what he has to say and not make assumptions about him based off his pastor's comments. He is trying to avoid that "single story", which will in the end build his credibility and allow the audience to be more persuaded by his beliefs and goals to progress.

At the end of the day President Obama has used many devices that help win the believability of a lot of Americans to help achieve his goal in the unification of the United States.