Rhetorical Analysis of Obama’s First Two Speeches as President

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.

First of all, the Inaugural Address was the President Obama’s speech that was delivered to the crowds after the oath of office ceremony that took place at the West Front of the United States. 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 mostly was flawless and applicable to the audience, who was the public, since he was using every day vocabulary. Therefore, the speech has had strong structure that can be easily understood by the majority of people. The audience typic...

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...y in both speeches. In the Inaugural Address, the speech was filled significantly with ethos and pathos because the audience was the general public. However, in the state of union speech, he used mostly ethos and logos to address the congress members in particular. Nevertheless, President Obama was able to deliver both speeches using the precise style and language for each occasion. Also, he supported his claims with logic and evidences. By doing so, he was able to accomplish his political agenda and in the same time he won the hearts and confidence of the American citizens.

Works Cited

Obama, Barack. "President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address." The White House. Office of the Press Secretary, 21 Jan. 2009. Web. 5 Apr. 2014.

Obama, Barack. "Address to Joint Session of Congress." The White House. Office of the Press Secretary, 24 Feb. 2009. Web. 5 Apr. 2014.