Political Speech (Obama Inaugural Address 20th January 2009) - Essay Example

The inauguration ceremony of Barak Obama set out new records in the history of United States of America. More than a million people were there to congratulate Obama and to welcome him as the new president of America. (Jem Aswad and Jennifer Vineyard) The detail scrutiny of Obama’s speech laid out the fact that all three persuasive appeals that is Ethos, Pathos and logos were used in this speech. Ethos (credibility) is an appeal in which the speaker tends to put forward his potential, knowledge and credibility regarding certain fact.

Pathos is an emotional appeal in which the orator tries to convince people about something by targeting their emotions. The selection of words greatly influence people’s emotions, the better the language the better will be its effect on emotions of people. Pathos is an effective way to improve an argument or speech. Logos is a logical speech. It is a means of putting forward arguments that are based on logics and facts. Any disagreement regarding such argument can be discarded immediately by considering and having a look at facts.

In order to analyze Obama’s speech I will start with Pathos. From the very inception of his speech Obama started to target people’s emotions in an effective manner. . Moreover he also appreciated President Bush’s efforts by thanking him. This shows that he holds no grudges against any political leader. Obama again by indicating the past tried to tap the emotions of people by saying: “What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

” Here he made them realize that each and every individual has certain responsibilities which are to be fulfilled. He has advised them they should accept their duties willingly without any resentment if they want their nation to prosper and progress fluidly. He said that giving yourself completely to a task which seems difficult and impossible and then coming out of the odds and achieving your goal is the finest accomplishment that one can ever have. In the end of the speech Obama again motivated the people by discussing the hardships which the United States of America has faced in the past.

He put forward those difficulties by saying; “So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood… America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy