Rhetorical Analysis Of Bill Clinton's Inaugural Address

The Inaugural Address of a newly elected president can have an incredible impact on both those who support the young presidency, and those who do not. These speeches are widely broadcast. In school, businesses, and at home, the words of the person who has been elected are heard by hundreds of thousands. The message that these words deliver can sway those who are unhappy with the vote’s results, fearful about the future, or expectant of greatness to look forward without distrust or doubt and to look to the president for leadership and guidance. The focus of the speech illuminates what issues are present in society, and what the commander in chief plans to address in his steps forward. In Bill Clinton’s 1993 Inaugural Address, he incorporated a hopeful but urgent tone, repetitive rhetorical devices that emphasized his point, and an inspirational organizational format to argue that it was the responsibility of the American people and their leadership to change society for the better.
In the selected passage, Clinton took up tone that was serious, but at the same time optimistic, in order to convey his message to

the audience without appearing too extremist in either direction. He acknowledged that while there was work to be done and many Americans were still suffering, the country had come a long way and should be proud of its course of innovations. The passage began and ended with a skillful reference that brought magnitude and context to his words. First he stated that, “When George Washington first took the oath,” that he had just taken, things moved much slower. By bringing to mind Washington, the first president of the United States, he immediately brought an air of importance and relevance to his point. While stating that the people of the US had become much more technologically advanced than they once were, he also brought all listeners back to the founding of this nation, and so, established his tone. He could assume that, for the majority of listeners, George Washington brought about a sense of pride and honor, and so, was a somewhat fantastic embodiment of hope and triumph. Throughout the passage, he maintained relatively high diction, but not so much as to alienate his audience, only enough to elevate his meaning. To finish the passage, he referenced Thomas Jefferson, the nation’s third president, stating that, “Thomas Jefferson believed that to preserve the very foundations of our nation we would need dramatic change from time to time.” This statement, in every way, reaffirmed his position and maintained his tone.
Over the course of Clinton’s Address, he used a format that guided his audience to consider first the joys and successes that the American people have achieved, second, the losses and failures of a complicit culture, and finally a path towards solutions. This organization relied most directly on pathos to make his statements meaningful. He started and ended with references to great American presidents - essentially high notes to his speech. In explaining the successes won by the American people he said that, “Technology is almost magical, and ambition for a better life is now universal.” Then in his second/middle paragraph, he spoke about the many difficulties and challenges being faced by the American people, and that by failing to properly aid and address them, “we have failed to make change our friend.” This brought people to think personally about individual struggles they may have faced or witnessed, and consider their own humanity and responsibility to stop the pain felt by others. In his final/third paragraph, he begins by continuing his statement that the American people have not succeeded in helping those who are not, “able to compete and win in it [America’s capitalist society],” and therefore, he cannot say that overall, there has been success. However, he goes on to say that there is hope, and that in knowing that the US people started off as a people fighting for freedoms, there is much to suggest that they will do so again.
Finally, throughout the entirety of the passage, he used rhetorical devices that rely on repetition to highlight his points and build up understanding and impact.

In his initial statement that innovations have come far, he made use of parallelism in a noun-adjective pairing, and stated that, “Communication and commerce are global. Investment is mobile. Technology is almost magical, and ambition for a better life is now universal.” Then as his tone sobered, he used anaphora tied to the word when, and argued that,
“…when most people are working harder for less, when others cannot work at all, when the cost of health care devastates families and threatens to bankrupt our enterprises, great and small; when the fear of crime robs law abiding citizens of their freedom; and when millions of poor children cannot even imagine the lives we are calling them to

lead,”
something is missing. When he went on to say that American inaction is incredibly harmful, he used a verb-noun pairing, to say that this inaction has, “eroded our resources, fractured our economy, and shaken our confidence.” And finally, when stating that it is in the spirit of the American people to do better, he stated, that this is because, “we are a restless, questing, hopeful people.” These applications of repetition and reiteration show the complexities and realities of his message, and point to the many ways in which his statements are both true and deeply pressing. His consistent use of repetition gives his speech itself an undertone of artfulness and familiarity, and allows him to restate his point in new ways that can be deeply meaningful to many listeners.
The message delivered in Clinton’s speech was deeply moving, so much so that it is no surprise that he went on to be re-elected four years later. In the passage included of his inaugural speech, he exemplified a clear understanding of the capabilities of rhetoric. He alluded to the power of past American presidents, and accessed the nation’s collective memory, to maintain a hopeful, but also realistic tone. In addition, he formatted his words to take his audience on a rollercoaster of emotion, with highs and lows, but ultimately, a path towards a successful future. He used devices that repeated his point each time it was of absolute importance that the audience understand. Regardless of what people say about Bill Clinton politically, he was a fine writer (or his ghost writer was), so much so that it presses the point that a command over words is in every way, an incredibly powerful tool.