Summary Of Rhetorical Devices In President Clinton's Address

In response to his alleged affair with Ms. Monica Lewinsky, who at the time was an intern at the White House, President Clinton took to a national broadcast to clear his name. In his testimony, Clinton begins with a formal and slightly apologetic tone, and then subtly shifts the blame from his actions to the nosiness of the American public, victimizing himself. There were four different tone shifts in this particular speech, and he uses this to his advantage in turning the spotlight away from his private life, and to national issues. In his address, President Clinton uses a wide variety of rhetorical devices to convince his audience, the American people, that his stance on the matter is the most valid, and to reestablish his credibility,

in hopes to regain the trust of his citizens after lying under oath.
President Clinton begins his speech by saying that he had to answer questions about his personal life that “no American citizen would ever want to answer,” which portrays his attempt to victimize himself, as well as demonstrates his frustration with the circumstance he has found himself in. by asserting that he had been bombarded with uncomfortable questions, he is initiating that he was innocent, and that he did a noble thing by sitting back and allowing the questioning to further. He then goes on to add that he needs to take the blame for what he has done, which is his attempt to establish back his credibility. The importance of this speech is his reluctance in rebuilding his ethos, as he lost the trust of the America people when he lied under oath, and as President of the United States, it is very crucial that he is to serve as a role model for and a leader. Clinton refers to his disposition the previous January, when he was asked questions about his relationship with Monica, and by claiming that his “answers were legally accurate”, he is attempting to justify not telling the entire truth, and thus is continuing to victimize himself. He incorporates a euphemism when he admits to having “a relationship to Ms. Lewinsky that was not appropriate”, as the claims made revolving this incident were more graphic than this, as he was said to have sexual relations with Monica, rather than simply a relationship. By playing it safe and using this particular phrasing, he is safely taking responsibility for his actions, but this does not last for very long, as he quickly switches from taking ownership of his downfall to reclaiming his ethos.
The very first tone shift occurs following the abrupt end to his apology, in which he changes from apologetic to defensive, all aiding in his attempt to victimize himself.

After claiming that he never asked anyone “to lie, to hide or destroy evidence or take any other unlawful action”, his tone shifts back from defensive to guilty and shameful. Clinton relies, in the second half of his speech, on the repetition of the word ‘private’, to redirect the guilt from himself to the nosey American people. He uses this as a shame tactic, in attempt to reinforce that he is not solely to blame for his actions. He uses alliteration in saying that “it is time to stop the pursuit of personal destruction and the prying into personal lives”, which illustrates his irritability with having his personal life in the spotlight. He later goes on to say that, “I intend to reclaim my family life for my family. It’s nobody’s business but ours”, which suggests, by his use of the word “my”, that President Clinton doesn’t believe that he is solely to blame for what occurred. He later goes on to say that, “I take my responsibility for my part in all of this”, which suggests, by his use of the word “my”, that President Clinton doesn’t believe that he is solely to blame for his actions, both in his private relationship with Ms. Lewinsky and for lying under

oath.
His next tone shifts occurs, as Clinton shifts from seemingly full of regret and shameful to agitated and annoyed.

He incorporates parallelism in his statement that “we have important work to do – real opportunities to seize, real problems to solve, real security matters to face”, through the consistent use and placement of the word ‘real’. He uses this to express the real danger that our country is in, and that we need not to be focusing our attention on his act of adultery, but rather to the national security. He also uses irony in this statement, as the issues with the President and how trustworthy he is become present before issues like foreign affairs surface, and with the now-present, untrusting nature of the American populace, Clinton will have a hard time regaining their trust to handle such large scale issues. President Clinton then incorporates his last tone shift, where he shifts from being annoyed to wanting everyone who is listening to him to be dismissive of the affair and to forget what happened. Here, he asserts that he believes it would be best if everyone involved would act as if it never took place. He does not use this solely for the purpose of national security reasons, but primarily to clear his name, in hopes that if he is no longer gossiped about, the issue will be

forgotten.
In attempts to reestablish his credibility as President of the United States following his affair with Ms. Monica Lewinsky, President Clinton uses a variety of rhetorical devices in order to heighten his stance and persuade his audience, the American people, that he is not solely to blame for what occurred and that his side of the story is the most valid. Clinton uses manipulation all throughout his speech in order to victimize himself, which shows that he does not believe that he is truly at fault.