Obama Rhetoric

Five cannons of rhetoric in Obama’s speech
Without a doubt, rhetoric is almost always linked to the political field and the individuals who operate within it. For hundreds of years, presidents have been utilizing rhetoric to make their points and to outline their positions on important issues before the nation. President Obama certainly used many forms of rhetoric and rhetorical devices during his long journey that eventually ended at the steps of the White House, and he did not stop there. During his inaugural speech, President Obama put to use many, if not all, of the methods that are commonly taught at our institutions.

Traditionally, rhetoric is based on creative arguments and analyzing, but in the early twentieth century people gave
more importance to scientific proofs which led to decline of rhetoric. Somewhere the key component was missing, but that’s when public speaking came along in the United States. People became more informative of public speaking courses, and rhetoric was re-introduced with principal of five cannons. (Bizzell & Herzberg 1183-1184). To begin, the five parts of the rhetorical cannon: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery, all played a part in the grand scheme of President Obama’s speech. Next, the President appealed to the audience’s emotions and made points logically, all while maintaining his own credibility. Finally, the audience and venue came together to create a space and atmosphere that was hospitable for the President’s speech. Although some political analysts suggest that his speech fell flat and failed to inspire the American people, President Obama’s use of all aspects of rhetoric came together to form a complete, concise, and, in my opinion, an effective speech.
Starting from the basics with the first piece of the cannon, invention, it is clear that politicians put their ideas together for speeches prior to standing in front of a podium to deliver them. President Obama had a lot of ground to cover with this speech, and he did not have much time to do it. He needed to be strong, yet humble; patriotic, yet welcoming of other cultures; ambitious, yet realistic. To express all of his ideals and views while fulfilling these qualities, President Obama had to process the invention of his speech in order to make it effective. Further, although the setting was very ceremonial, calling for a more epideictic form, the speech was still political, and therefore was also of the deliberative genre. Corresponding with the epideictic genre, President Obama spoke in the present, touching on issues that are pressing the nation, like the economy and wars. However, keeping with the deliberative, he identified how he planned to address many of the issues.

The next step of arranging the key points of the speech is crucial if the greatest effect is to be achieved.
President Obama chose to organize his ideas with a general theme that ran the length of the speech. The theme of returning to the ideals of the founding fathers touched every aspect of the speech: the war, the economy, and foreign relations. By doing this, the President made his speech more consistent and easier to follow.
Style is next. President Obama’s words met all basic aspects of good style; they were correct, clear, and appropriate. He avoided all grammatical flaws and he used a combination of complex and simple sentence structures to add variety to his speech. He chose words that are used every day, and therefore easily understood by the general public. President Barack Obama not only met, but also exceeded, these standards of style.
Masters of rhetoric have long taught and emphasized the importance of memory in speech giving. Not only does memorizing a speech increase a speaker’s credibility, or ethos, but it also adds to an image of organization and preparedness that speakers strive for. Anyone who watched President Obama give his inaugural speech can note that, although there were undoubtedly Teleprompters present, he maintained an image that suggested that he had memorized the entire speech. Memory also has a great deal to do with the last part of the rhetorical cannon,
delivery.
A speech can be beautifully written, but if the delivery is all wrong, it can fall flat, it can be ineffective. President Obama opted for a pitch and tone that look a lot like of a preacher delivering a Sunday lecture. This style of delivery includes active hand gestures to emphasize certain points or phrases, like the President’s “extended hand to the unclenched fist.” These physical attributes of the speech combined with the attention grabbing tone create an engaging and effective delivery. Additionally, although many political analysts feel that President Obama rushed through the speech, I believe that his pace was appropriate, considering all of the points that he needed to cover.
The appeals to ethos and logos that the President made during his speech added to his credibility, or ethos. Ethos is the character or reputation of a rhetorician, an essential device to gaining the trust of an audience (Crowley & Hawhee 195). In his opening, the President makes the first appeal to ethos, by stating that he felt humbled by being elected to tackle the issues facing the nation. From there, he logically follows the common theme of respecting the foundation that the forefathers, soldiers, and earlier Americans laid while tugging at America’s heartstrings. In thinking of logos, one must acknowledge the premise of the argument, a premise being a statement supposed or assumed before the argument (Crowley and Hawhee 159).
President Obama made several references to slavery and segregation, things that many Americans feel very emotionally attached to.
For instance, he mentioned a time in America’s history when a black man, like his father, would not be served in public restaurants. Statements like these not only emotionally reach each and every American, but they also help to build President Obama’s ethos because it was his father who would have faced segregation in the country he is now the Commander and Chief of. In addition, President Obama focuses and emphasizes on American working class, when he mentions “our workers” “our minds” “our goods” “our capacity”. This is done through the use of the rhetorical devise anaphora, which is when repetition occurs at the beginning of each subsequent thought, phrase, clause or sentence (Crowley & Hawhee
428).
In terms of audience and venue, President Obama’s popularity with the American people helped his speech resound through the millions of people in attendance. Some political analysts felt that the President’s speech was uneventful and even boring; however, I would argue that the historical aspects combined with the tradition of the inauguration ceremony itself created such an extreme atmosphere of excitement that there was no way that President Obama’s speech could be considered in those terms. Further, I firmly believe that the portion of the population that comprised the audience did not travel to Washington, D.C. in the extreme cold solely to hear the newly elected President make his speech; they went to feel the energy and hope that this historical day produced. Also, the venue alone carries so much history and tradition with it that it would be hard to hear anything there, let alone a legendary speech, and not be moved by it.
As we discussed earlier, modern rhetoric relies heavily on scientific proofs. But if you apply traditional methods of rhetoric like modern appeals, beliefs and references, traditional rhetorical devices can still be effective. We just saw an example of that from President Obama’s Inaugural Address where he uses Aristotle’s rhetorical devices of ethos, pathos and logos through the five cannons of rhetoric. Overall, President Obama, who is clearly a seasoned speaker, made the most of his surroundings and the energy from the enthusiastic audience to deliver a highly effective inauguration speech. The modification and organization of his speech along with the appropriate and powerful appeals to emotions left many observers in tears and awe.