Obama's Political Speech - Literature review Example

Obama Political Speech Student’s Name Institution Affiliation The Political Context in which the Speech was made Obama approaches his people through a political speech, which is aimed at persuading and giving people some limelight with regard to the quality of education in the nation. His speech is timely, as it is presented during the days when the students are heading back to school and the country is dithering due to the divergent ideologies presented by democrats and republicans regarding the role of education in the future of America. Through artistic language use, he passes strong messages to the people mainly emphasizing the need to give the young people the best education whose eminence relies on the teachers. Obama’s target audience is the congress members because they opposed the plan to hire more teachers. This group has been his challenge since he attained America’s presidency (Robert, 2008). Either, the speech is directed to the entire nation because there is the need for everyone to participate in salvaging the nation from educational inefficiency as experienced in erstwhile years. This further indicates the need for harmony in finding the solution to the problem at hand by including everybody in the country. The purpose of the speech is to reinforce the need to prioritize education by highlighting the urgency that is required to bring about the changes the president aspired for. What made the Speech Memorable or Effective? The speech has a unique stance, which is uncommon in political speeches. The most catching aspect of the speech is its mode of linguistic usage that is crucial to the presenter in regards to its construction and delivery. The features that are inherently interconnected as they emerge in Barrack Obama’s speech may have attained a certain degree of success in persuading and motivating people during this time when schools were reopening. In reference to Yip (2002), the moving, motivational, and persuasive rhetoric employed in the speech gives people a challenge and triggers their reasoning towards achieving a better education strategy as well as to think about the best ways to appreciate teachers who are central to success in education. Obama further uses varying sentence structure in his speech with an extension of numerous poses (Yip, 2002). The sentence length entails an interchange of short statements, compound and complex sentences. This gives the speech a characteristic structure with an emotive musical diction maintained from the point of introduction to the peak. In this regard, the speech becomes persuasive and touching, making it memorable. He makes use of structure to emphasize the urgency of his message and statistical evidence to support his arguments. The choice of diction shows the high level of disillusionment in the situation while the use of imagery ensures that a powerful message is delivered. Notably, Obama structured the speech in very short sentences, which create a more urgent demanding tone, ‘Teachers matter’ (The Weekly Address, 2012). Listeners are given the sense that the point is direct and clear as argued by (Arp & Johnson, 2009). This technique allows Obama to show the citizens that action is necessary, and that they can no longer waste time on superfluous details. With Respect to Logos, Ethos, and Pathos, what were its Strengths and/or Weaknesses? Appeal to ethos, logos and pathos is brought out when the president mentions that “there’s nothing more important to our country’s future than the education we give our kids” (The Weekly Address, 2012). This real life matter to all Americans is clearly pronounced at the commencement of his speech. He displays himself to be caring to the common people hence gains their trust. The president does not act as if he is requesting for the support of the congressional representatives, but calls for everyone’s support in passing an education plan that suits every American. He ends the speech with an appeal that “in America, higher education cannot be a luxury; it’s an economic necessity every family should be able to afford” (The Weekly Address, 2012). The spark for ethos, logos and pathos appeal is gained through the placement of children at the center of the argument. He is likely to gain moral support in this manner since most Americans consider children very important for the future of the nation (Robert, 2008). The ethos in Obama’s speech differs from his usual speech style, which is often full of articulacy, and remarks that seem to be well thought and presented. The president avoids the academic and professional stand by speaking directly and simply while articulating a serious education problem to the audience. He thus appeals to ethos by desisting from the usual presidential and political ham up. This kind of diction links the president directly to the audience since he poses as an ordinary American and thus effectively stems up his humanity. He further includes himself and the congress as a unified governing body that is bound to reap fruits, “we cannot let that happen” (The Weekly Address, 2012). Therefore, the president accepts the fact that the congress may be full of political pomposity and snarl-up although it remains vigorous in the governance of the United States. Obama employs the belief of a cohesive government, which appeals to ethos a great deal, as he presents himself as a member of a government in which everybody needs to consider the education problem that is facing the entire nation (Stelter, 2008). Logos in president Obama’s speech is created by his consistency and logicality in the establishment of a firm ground for his argument. He asserts appealingly that hard work pays as he addresses the congressmen, “People work hard to meet their responsibilities, it is time we work to meet ours” (The Weekly Address, 2012). This seems to be a very simple assertion but it meets logos by presenting the ability and responsibility that individuals have in their lives, and that they are in a position to fulfill them. The concept is thus weighty because it touches on a recent situation that has been the foundation of numerous criticisms directed towards the government marking its failure to handle the state of affairs in the country efficiently. The appeal to ethos therefore helps the president to allude to his desire to address the nation’s problems to lessen criticisms, politics, and government fumbling. This could also halter the consequences hence appeal further to logos. The expressed logic appeals to logos throughout the speech and effectively persuades the audience to prioritize education in numerous ways underscored by the president previously (Barrack, 2008). Furthermore, president Obama appeals to pathos in his speech because he consistently attempts to show the Americans the importance of participating in solving the problem of education the nation is facing. Obviously, the Americans may be disillusioned by the failure of the federal government to fight education problems and thus Obama intends to win them over through the extensive persuasive use of pathos as observed in his speech. ‘You can make it if you try,’ is a very strong appeal to pathos that makes the audience realizes their capacity in fighting for the future of the nation. “And Congress should be willing to help out – because this affects all of us” (The Weekly Address, 2012). This statement includes everybody in the nation and thus is thoughtful to the audience. The major strength Obama exhibits evidently is that the speech creates an optimistic feeling of empathy within individuals who are persuaded to believe that adequate teachers and efficient education systems can unite and pacify the entire nation. Obama presents a quality idea that tads the life of everybody in the nation and makes it clear to the audience, fair and very useful. The audience is bound to believe whatever he says because it is articulated passionately. The president refrains from commanding but rather presents logically what he believes could help the children of the nation in regards to their education (Barrack, 2008). The Rhetorical Schemes, Devices, and Techniques of Argument Used The emotive speech relies on effective use of language stylistic devices to create the intended meaning such as repetition, simple choice of words, alliteration as well as the use of pronouns “I and we.” Moreover, the context and tone in which the speech is delivered tends to give the audience an idea on how they are supposed to view the present situation of the country. These factors determine the nature of the response expected from the listeners (Frow, 2007). As identified from the speech, ‘we’ is a personal pronoun that exists in almost each sentence in the speech. Though a common word, it has strong motive in the context of this particular speech. Most probably, Obama intends to echo the need for collective education responsibility without directly highlighting the negative responses of disunity among the congressmen and the republicans. Besides, he clearly puts his points across through his choice of words, volume and a slow tone, “They give everything for our kids – and in return, we should invest in them” (The Weekly Address, 2012). He clearly puts more emphasis on the significance of togetherness in achieving the best education rather than joining in the critic mood of the congress people. Additionally, he also uses the personal pronoun ‘I’ to give the speech a personal perspective. Obama expresses personal beliefs and does not fear to commit himself. This shows that he is ready to stand for his actions as the president of the nation. As a leader, he shows that he is responsible for whatever that he intends to do for the sake of the country and that everybody should join in the battle in order to attain a kind of education that each family will be able to afford. Conclusively, Obama manages to give people collective bargaining power with regard to the education situation at hand. The speech is therefore timely and relevant to the country’s situation in the present times. References Arp, T., & Johnson, G. (2009). Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound & Sense. Tenth Edition. Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Barrack, O. (2008). Change We Believe in. New York: Crown Publisher Group Frow, J. (2007). Genre (Reprint Ed.). Routledge. Robert, K. (2008). Obama’s Challenge. White River Junction. New York: Chelsea Green Publishers Stelter, B. (2008). Finding Political News Online, the Young Pass It On. The New York Times. The Weekly Address. (2012). Remarks of President Barack Obama. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndkUaQ5HsBk Yip, M. (2002). Tone; Cambridge textbooks in linguistics. Cambridge University Press. Read More

Obama further uses varying sentence structure in his speech with an extension of numerous poses (Yip, 2002). The sentence length entails an interchange of short statements, compound and complex sentences. This gives the speech a characteristic structure with an emotive musical diction maintained from the point of introduction to the peak. In this regard, the speech becomes persuasive and touching, making it memorable. He makes use of structure to emphasize the urgency of his message and statistical evidence to support his arguments.

The choice of diction shows the high level of disillusionment in the situation while the use of imagery ensures that a powerful message is delivered. Notably, Obama structured the speech in very short sentences, which create a more urgent demanding tone, ‘Teachers matter’ (The Weekly Address, 2012). Listeners are given the sense that the point is direct and clear as argued by (Arp & Johnson, 2009). This technique allows Obama to show the citizens that action is necessary, and that they can no longer waste time on superfluous details.

With Respect to Logos, Ethos, and Pathos, what were its Strengths and/or Weaknesses? Appeal to ethos, logos and pathos is brought out when the president mentions that “there’s nothing more important to our country’s future than the education we give our kids” (The Weekly Address, 2012). This real life matter to all Americans is clearly pronounced at the commencement of his speech. He displays himself to be caring to the common people hence gains their trust. The president does not act as if he is requesting for the support of the congressional representatives, but calls for everyone’s support in passing an education plan that suits every American.

He ends the speech with an appeal that “in America, higher education cannot be a luxury; it’s an economic necessity every family should be able to afford” (The Weekly Address, 2012). The spark for ethos, logos and pathos appeal is gained through the placement of children at the center of the argument. He is likely to gain moral support in this manner since most Americans consider children very important for the future of the nation (Robert, 2008). The ethos in Obama’s speech differs from his usual speech style, which is often full of articulacy, and remarks that seem to be well thought and presented.

The president avoids the academic and professional stand by speaking directly and simply while articulating a serious education problem to the audience. He thus appeals to ethos by desisting from the usual presidential and political ham up. This kind of diction links the president directly to the audience since he poses as an ordinary American and thus effectively stems up his humanity. He further includes himself and the congress as a unified governing body that is bound to reap fruits, “we cannot let that happen” (The Weekly Address, 2012).

Therefore, the president accepts the fact that the congress may be full of political pomposity and snarl-up although it remains vigorous in the governance of the United States. Obama employs the belief of a cohesive government, which appeals to ethos a great deal, as he presents himself as a member of a government in which everybody needs to consider the education problem that is facing the entire nation (Stelter, 2008). Logos in president Obama’s speech is created by his consistency and logicality in the establishment of a firm ground for his argument.

He asserts appealingly that hard work pays as he addresses the congressmen, “People work hard to meet their responsibilities, it is time we work to meet ours” (The Weekly Address, 2012). This seems to be a very simple assertion but it meets logos by presenting the ability and responsibility that individuals have in their lives, and that they are in a position to fulfill them. The concept is thus weighty because it touches on a recent situation that has been the foundation of numerous criticisms directed towards the government marking its failure to handle the state of affairs in the country efficiently.

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