State Of The Union Address Summary

Ryan L. Teten characterizes the “modern rhetorical presidency,” with respect to their State of the Union speeches, in two distinct ways: 1) the speeches are relatively short, hovering around 5,000 words, as compared to nearly 30,000 in 1906 (Teten 2003, 340) and 2) the speeches consist of a relatively high rate of the words “we” and our,” hovering around 2.5% as compared to below 1% before 1914 (Teten 2003, 342). Therefore, a brief overview of Barack Obama’s 2016 State of the Union address reveals that the speech conforms to Teten’s characterization, as the speech is short (around 6,000 words) and includes the words “we” and “our” around 220 times (Obama, 2016). At this point, I should point out that the aforementioned calculations are the product of unscientific computer programs that calculate word count and usage. With that said, they do offer a general view of former President Obama’s speech and how it conforms to Teten’s model. Before addressing President Obama’s speech, it is important to examine why Teten decided to analyze State of the Union addresses. Teten analyzed and assessed State of the Union addresses because they are required under the Constitution and they are presented to a “consistent audience (Congress and the people)” (Teten 2003, 335).
Then, Teten examines what explains the rhetorical shift
The second aspect, however, the use of the words “we” and “our,” reflects and even greater usage utilization of these devices, as the words make up 3.75% of the entire speech, nearly a full point over Teten’s highest recorded percentage (Teten 2003, 342). That being said, this higher percentage does not represent a deviation from Teten’s depiction but it is rather substantial. This increase in usage can be explained, however, in a few