Rhetorical Analysis Of Obama

The 44th president of the United States gave out a speech to the potential voters in the 2008 election. He spoke about equality, relations in the USA, and also responded to Reverend's comments. Reverend's comments appeared as racist and anti-American. It was urgent for the Reverend to save his reputation and campaign. Obama’s main purpose was to get the audience (potential voters) to be a part of a “more perfect union.” Obama encourages voters to go out and vote for him so we can face this challenge together. Obama welds three distinctive rhetorical tactics to support his overarching argument that unity is compulsory in this country to produce racial equality. First, he opens with a personal and historical background to highlight the moment
and exigence present, then appeals to pathos through multiple examples of racial injustice to indicate the necessity of such change, and finally uses his appeals to ethos to suggest, but not legislate, modes of change for black and white Americans. The speech was met with profound success: pundits from both the right and the left praised his bravery and oration, while, later that year, Obama defeated John McCain in a landslide victory to secure the presidency. To many, this speech was both a rhetorical and political turning point in the 2008 presidential campaign.
Millions of American people are doubting him but he said “I have asserted a firm conviction – a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people – that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect
union.”
This was one of the tasks set form at the beginning of President Obama’s campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, “a march for a more just, freer, more caring, more prosperous America.” He stated that is the whole reason he ran for president. His diction emphasizes unity and creates a strong connection to the audience. He wants America to march towards a better future. He uses symbolism to create an image in the audience’s mind of America moving towards success and a better place. He stated “just because everyone has a different story, understanding, background or doesn’t come from the same place, doesn’t mean we can’t all stick together as a whole and treat each other the same.”
The candidate wants to emphasize the fact that “Race is an issue that [he] believe[s] this nation cannot afford to ignore” (citation).
He said after “We would be making the same mistake Reverend Wright made in his offering sermons about America.” If this happened it would “simplify the stereotype and also amplify the negative. “ He uses parallelism so his main focus points correspond in the same way. It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery,” and other racial injustices. He then incorporates his “own American story” in an effort to include himself as a character in the ongoing chronicle of race in America. He states, “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… I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue.” It is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts – that out of many, we are truly one.” Obama was a community organizer, civil-rights lawyer and teacher before pursuing a political
career. Yet while Obama clearly paints his involvement in and passion towards the racial makeup of America, the reason for this rhetorical speech – the exigence – is not clear until he mentions his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. In the weeks prior to the speech Wright, an outspoken Chicago pastor, accused the government of committing hateful acts against black Americans. Conservatives flagged Wright as a militant black extremist, and, because he used to pray at his church, Obama was labeled similarly. In an effort to save face, while providing a more broad discourse on race in America, Obama had to act. As such, while Wright’s comments provided the exigence for this discourse, the urgency to both distance himself from his former pastor and call for racial unity in America served as the moment. With that purpose, Obama firmly states, “we have no choice [other than to act now] if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.” He does a good job talking, explaining, and reminding the audience about how America isn’t sticking together as a whole. He said “men and women of every color need to stick together no matter what their background is.” He uses symbolism by saying “We all need to fight together, bleed together, and serve together under the same flag.” This is effective because it creates an image in the audience’s mind of our countries flag. He wants us to move forward as a country and represent America better by being peaceful to one another. At the very end of Presidential Candidate Obama's speech he said “but this is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.” He has faith in his campaign and believes he can turn America around for the greater good “I would not be running for President if I didn’t believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. He said “This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected.“He then appealed to pathos by enlightening his audience with examples of racial unfairness to highlight the need for unity and change. And finally, he capitalized on these stimulated sentiments by appealing to ethos to advocate, but not dictate, modes of change. With the great success of this historic speech, Obama assumed a new podium in November of that same year, this time to accept his election as the President of the United States.