An Analysis of 2008 Campaign of Barrack Obama and the Millennial - Essay Example

An Analysis of Barrack Obama’s 2008 Campaign and the Millennial INTRODUCTION “On November 4, 2008, more than 12 million young Americans elected the person who made them believe in their abilities to bring about change, the person who gave them hope, and the person who let them feel united. It was Barrack Obama who won the election, and it was young people who were pivotal in helping him win.” (Alexandrova, 1) This paper emphasizes on the strategy i.e. technology used by Barrack Obama in his 2008 election campaign to attract and engage the Generation Y effectively. Furthermore, it also tells about the successful strategies to use media or new media for reaching and engaging millennial generation towards some certain activities. “Obama comes out as a moderate American who is really different from his other party fellows. Although Obama convinces his listeners through reasoning and logic in almost his every political speech, his present speech is, from first to the last paragraph, full of the use of logical style of talking.” (Alvi and Baseer) Every president of the United States including the current president Barrack Obama constructs enthymemes according to their specific targeted audience or crowd. “This separation is evident in his minor premises both when he specifically addresses the target audience and when he uses a word or idea that suggests that he is trying to persuade a particular group. I am also contending that each president’s speech can be broken down into numerous major and minor premises that lead to one overarching conclusion in each speech that those premises support.” (Lawson, 7) THE CONCEPT OF ENTHYMEME “An enthymeme, while a type of syllogism, does not contain the same indisputable logical truths as the formal syllogism. It is a rhetorical syllogism, or informally stated syllogism, which contains same three elements as a complete syllogism: a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.” (Lawson, 8) However, one of these elements in an enthymeme is understood as it is already known as a general knowledge or some belief held by the audience as well. Basically, an enthymeme is considered as an unfinished argument in a way that not all the parts in this are exactly expressed or definitely stated. Therefore, it is dependent upon the previous mentioned assumptions which were the general knowledge or prior beliefs or knowledge regarding the subject. Furthermore, the speaker also relies upon the presupposition which helps them build their arguments in the future. This is the concept developed by the great Aristotle. According to his assumption and belief, enthymeme is an argument which basically opposes to an assumed idea or a topic which is either an indisputable fact or it is proved with the help of science and has science support. However, there is no one specific definition for the word ‘enthymeme’ as its meaning differs from person to person and what they think of this particular word. A recent study has shown that “Scholars have been trying to define and redefine enthymeme through various philosophical and literary readings of Aristotle’s texts. Each definition contains similar elements, but none of them are exactly alike.” (Lawson, 12) Because of this fact mentioned that ‘enthymeme’ has various definitions and analysis with respect to that particular enthymeme. One early scholar named E.M. Cope presented a definition that has been the core element for many different scholars when it comes to discussing enthymeme. Lloyd Bitzer, R.C. Seaton and Carol Poster are the few names who follow E.M. Cope regarding enthymeme. Seaton points out that “Cope bases his initial definition on another one set forth by Sir William Hamilton, and later ‘reverses his own decision in a note with the remark that the view given in the text „was adopted mainly in deference to the decided opinion expressed by Sir William Hamilton’ ” (Seaton 114). But, Bitzer points out that Aristotle refutes this claim when he states: “It is evident, therefore, that the propositions forming the basis of enthymemes, though some of them may be necessary, ‘will most of them only usually be true’” (Bitzer, 181). However, “McBurney expands his definition beyond pointing out three basic elements and goes on to further explain what it is exactly that differentiates syllogism from scientific demonstration, something that is not done by Cope or De Quincey at length.” (Lawson, 16) Hence in a nutshell, there is no single specific definition of enthymeme which can be universally applied but it may vary from one situation to another. Therefore, by looking at these definitions stated by various scholars tells that enthymeme plays a significant role in such a way that it has a place in all disciplines. Enthymeme and Obama’s 2008 Election Campaign We can consider and discuss two hypotheses to analyze the relation of enthymeme and the election campaign of 2008. It will tell us how significantly enthymeme acts to engage an audience towards a certain task. The First Hypothesis The first hypothesis is Barrack Obama’s new media communication strategy. It was the main reason of why the Millennial voted him and favored his character over his experience. People preferred his promise for change as his Major Premise was to Vote for change which was followed by the Minor Premise: Obama is Change and it concluded with the Vote for Obama. The Second Hypothesis The second hypothesis is “that this strategy contributed to the election results only as a part of a complex organizing mechanism, which the whole campaign represented. This mechanism was made up to promote Obama through building communities, enabling and promoting bottom-up activities.” (Alexandrova, 4) Just prior to the start of his campaign, these concepts were getting popular online on different social networks and YouTube etc. Hence, the strategy that united new media tools with Obama’s purposes worked especially effectively. “In November 2008, Millennial comprised about 17% of the electorate and voted overwhelmingly for Barrack Obama over John McCain (66% to 32%). With older generations dividing their votes almost evenly between the two candidates, Millennial accounted for about 80% of Obama’s national popular vote margin over McCain, turning what would have been a narrow win into a decisive seven-point victory.” ("Will Millennials Vote for Barack Obama Again in November 2012?") Obama’s campaign in the elections of 2008 was called as ‘Organizing for America’. “Rather than use his Internet presence to rehash campaign information, Obama transformed the dynamic of online campaigning into an interactive conversation, one that felt comfortable and familiar to young voters who spend large amounts of time in social networking environments like Facebook.” (Kohut et al., 2008) Obama did an intelligent and great job by spreading more of his interest of campaigning in the social world to reach the Generation Y. It was the only place to attract the young generation as it was social media where they lived. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, Mobile Phones, BlackBerry’s etc. were the main targets of Obama’s campaign. Therefore, in 2008, it was found out that about “23 million Millennials voted in the presidential election, nearly 53 percent of those eligible and an increase of between three and four percent, or 3.4 million from 2004. Overwhelmingly, they voted for Barack Obama and were his strongest supporters, crossing racial and partisan lines in large numbers to do so” (Young voters in, 2008, p. 3). Barrack Obama totally changed the way online campaigning should be carried out and that is why mostly people voted for him in the 2012 elections as well. His techniques and strategies were spot on to get the interest of the Millennial which also raised the bar for any future social media campaigning. Obama had sensed it before that his targeted audience wanted inspiration. All in all, “subsequently, the enthymemes that are pulled from his speeches reflect this demographic differentiation. Within Obama’s speeches, it becomes apparent how his assumptions ultimately construct his intended audiences.” (Lawson, 69) It seemed that the major premise of this paper can be understood from the minor premise in that he is staking the claim that through the new plan, the United States of America will change. Younger adults wanted change with bad economy, so voting for Obama was just like downloading a new better version of life. CONCLUSION The campaign experts agreed with the decision that Barrack Obama was certainly the right man at the right time with the perfect message for the citizens of the United States of America. Without his hard work and taking online campaigning to a whole new level, Millennial would not even have paid attention to him, or any other political event and person or whatever campaign they would have been running. “But even if he appeared to be a desirable candidate to young voters, Obama also had to meet their interactive expectations head on, and reach out in almost every possible way to them. They preferred him to John McCain by 66 percent to 32 percent—an unprecedented gap in presidential choice by age” (Preliminary CIRCLE Projection, 2008, para. 2). Lessons Learnt From the Obama’s Campaign of 2008 Obama had a successful year of 2008 where he saw himself being named as the president of the United States. Not only winning comfortably, but, it was more like a clean sweep by the first Black president of the United States. His major and minor premises as well as the conclusion were achieved efficiently which gives us a few lessons to learn. New Media technology is very different from the old one. Millennial and other online users are willing to act and participate in social and political life of the country. Every new media tool is based on certain codes of communication and behavior, which should be followed. Works Cited Alexandrova, Ekaterina. Using New Media Effectively: An Analysis of Barack Obama's Election Campaign Aimed at Young Americans, 2010 Print. Lawson, Chelsea A. Unspoken: Enthymematic Argument in the Presidential Rhetoric of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. , 2010. Internet resource Seaton, R.C. "The Aristotelian Enthymeme." The Classical Review 28.4 (1914): 113-19. JSTOR. Web. 10 Feb. 2010. Bitzer, Lloyd F. "Aristotle's Enthymeme Revisited." 1959. Landmark Essays on Aristotelian Rhetoric Volume 14 (Landmark Essays Series, Vol 14). Ed. Richard L. Enos and Lois P. Agnew. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1998. 179-91. Print. Alvi, Sofia Dildar and Abdul Baseer. "Application of Aristotle’s Ethos, Pathos, and Logos on Barack Obama’s Speech,‘Call to Renewal Keynote Address’.." (2012): Print. Ricke, Bryan. "RHETORICAL PROBLEMS AND CINEMATIC SOLUTIONS: THE VISUAL ARGUMENTS OF THE “OBAMA INFOMERCIAL”." (2010): Print. Kohut, A., Keeter, S., Doherty, C., Dimock, M., Wike, R., Parker, K., …Tyson, A. (2008, January). Internet’s broader role in campaign 2008: Social networking and online videos take off. Retrieved from Pew Research Center for the People & the Press website: http://people-press.org/report/384/ "Will Millennials Vote for Barack Obama Again in November 2012?." PolicyMic, 2012. Web. 7 Dec 2013. . Young voters in the 2008 presidential election (2008, November 24). Retrieved from The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement website: http://www.civicyouth.org/?p=324 McMillan, S. J. (2000). Interactivity is in the eye of the beholder: Function, perception, involvement, and attitude toward the Web site [sic]. In M. A. Shaver (Ed.), Proceedings of the 2000 Conference of the American Academy of Advertising (pp. 71-78) East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University. "Generation Y: Ready to Rock the 2008 Election." Washingtonpost.com, 2013. Web. 7 Dec 2013. . Preliminary CIRCLE projection: Youth voter turnout up. (2008, November 5). Retrieved from The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) website: http://www.civicyouth.org/?p=322 Read More