Rhetorical Analysis Of Obama During The White House Times

As said by Michiko Kakutani, words are a way to define people. In Barack Obama’s case, he achieved greatness through reading the literature and words of others. Kakutani also states that “Mr. Obama sat down in the Oval Office and talked about the indispensable role that books have played during his presidency and throughout his life.” As leader of the free world, Obama was in charge of one of the most powerful countries in the world, a position that most Americans dream of achieving. Obama’s accolades are all an indirect cause of his love for reading. In the article, How Reading Nourished Obama During The White House Years, Kakutani talks about how reading helped Obama to become the man that he is today, and can help other readers by teaching
In the article, Obama states how he always loved to read because he thought it was fun. This hobby soon caused him to become very compassionate and to be able to connect on an emotional level with everyone he met. Obama states in the article that “At a time when events move so quickly and so much information is transmitted , slow down and get perspective… the ability to get in somebody else’s shoes.” This quote, it shows how Obama learned from books, how to make everyone open up to him, and how he can connect to everyone. In my personal experience, I have learned empathy and how to connect with people from the novel The Secret Life Of Bees. In the book, the main character Lily, says “I had asked God repeatedly to do something about T-Ray. He’d gone to church for forty years and was only getting worse.” This quote is talking about how Lily’s only family member, her father T-Ray, keeps abusing her more and more as the years go on, despite her prayers. This taught me empathy, similar to how books taught Obama empathy because it shows me how lucky I am to have a family who loves me and cares for me, unlike Lily in the story. Lily’s situation also taught me how to feel for someone who is in a similar situation to