Analysis of Obamas Victory Speech - Case Study Example

Analysis of Obama’s victory speech The results of the last presidential elections of the United s of America were declared on November 5th 2008.Later that day, the president-elect, Mr. Barack Obama, delivered his victory speech at the Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois. A victory in the 56th quadrennial election allowed Barack Obama to remind Americans of the nations’s great founders and the great ‘American Dream’. His speech won applause and admiration not just from his supporters ,but also from opponents, as he was successful in assuring the audience that the change that people had been awaiting from a long time had finally arrived. In the speech, Obama begins by raising three important questions about the state of American democracy and the notion of the ‘American Dream’. Using an affirmative tone, the new president asked the audience – ‘If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible...’. As the first African-American ever to be elected to the highest seat of power, the president is himself a valuable answer to the question he raised. The second paragraph of the speech begins with a metaphor - ‘It is the answer told by lines that stretched around the schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen’, which represents the millions of people who lent their voice and support to his cause and campaign. Maintaining the same affirmative posture, Obama continues to pose another question – Who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time’. He uses the word ‘dream’ to associate his question with the famous 1963 speech of Martin Luther King Jr. – ‘I have a Dream’. The president responds to the question posed by enumerating the minorities in the USA. ‘Its the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled’ By this, Obama shows that the ‘Dream’ for which Martin Luther sacrificed his life and fought so hard through non-violence had indeed been realized. He completes this justification by saying – ‘we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red state and blue states: we are, and always will be, the United States of America’. The red and blue states used in this context represents the political parties that are usually favoured by people in the states namely the Republicans (red) and Democrats (Blue). At the end of this phrase, he calls for all citizens towards consolidation irrespective of the party they favour as they belong to the same nation. The introduction of the speech concludes with another question – ‘Who still questions the power of our democracy’, which he answers through the metaphor ‘we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day’. This metaphor once again refers to Martin Luther’s famous speech. For every question, Barak Obama responds by saing ‘It is the answer’. By using constant repetitions, also known as anaphora, the president rendered his speech more effective so as to enable to audience to focus more on the answers and responses he provided to the questions he posed. During the second phase of his speech, Obama chooses to use words of gratitude. He begin by thanking John McCain, his opponent, by saying that he had endured many sacrifices for the sake of the nation and that most could not imagine what he had had to go through (showing respect to McCain’s participation in the Vietnam conflict and the hardships he faced as a prisoner of war). He also thanks Joe Biden, partner and candidate for the post of vice president. In this context, one is drawn to his innate style of introducing a person without taking their name beforehand. Instead, Obama describes the attention of the audience towards his character by describing him as a person who campaigned from the heart besides speaking of the people he had grown up with in the streets of Scranton. The metaphor ‘on the streets’ reminds the audience of Biden’s background, which is similar to that of millions of Americans facing numerous hardships. Obama further uses a metaphor in ‘rode with on the train home to Delaware’ which described the 1972 incident in Biden’s life when he lost his wife and daughters in a car crash forcing him to use the train to get to work. Many such hints offered by Obama during this phase of the speech helps the audiences in the park and millions watching on television understand Joe Biden in a much more resounding manner. Obama also thanks his wife and daughters for their enormous support and demonstrates the strength of family and marriage. He also thanks his grandmother who had passed away two months prior to the victory speech. The use of pathos is evident in the third section of the speech when he uses the phrase ‘It belongs to you’ when addressing the audience. He constantly reminds that the path to the election had not been an easy one - ‘I was never the likeliest candidate for this office’ – which sheds light on his reference to his color and his roots. He continues by saying – ‘our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington’. The use of metonymies such as ‘hatched’ and ‘halls of Washington’, Obama signals that he did not have the support of the capital and comparing it to the campaign by President George W. Bush eight years earlier when he had the official backing of the White House. He further says-‘it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston’. This is in fact one his earlier points in his campaign such as ‘started modestly’ and ‘drew strength from young people’. His first point utilized a contrast along with a three part list where Washington is compared against various provincial cities. To gain further impact from this contrast, Washington and the provincial cities cited are used to contrast the centre of power (Halls of Washington) with everyday places like living rooms, porches and backyards. Obama also resorts to constant repetition of ‘dollar’, ensuring to use small denominations such as five, ten and twenty to highlight the plight of the common man with a minimal income, whom he has intended to help through his candidature. The section finishes with quote from the famous ‘Gettysburg Address’ by Abraham Lincoln – ‘a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from the earth’. Obama subsequently moves onto political issues. He begins by saying – ‘you did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead’, which was intended for the audience. The word ‘enormity’ denotes the huge volume of work that had to be done to pull the country out of a deepening economic crisis through metonymy by using the word ‘tomorrow’ implying the future. The president-elect uses phrases such as ‘the deserts of Iraq’ and the ‘mountains of Afghanistan’ to highlight the difficulties and hostilities faced by soldiers and the seriousness of the wars the country was engaged in both these conflict zones. Further, use of imagery such as ‘deserts’ and ‘mountains’ has helped connect the audience with the tough situation faced by the American soldier in these regions. Consider the following sentence from the speech - ‘For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.’ The sentence described three challenges and attributes the third one to be longer than the two earlier ones. This is synonymous with many 3 part lists used in many speeches such as ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’. ‘Tomorrow’ in this context is a simple metaphor for the future. Although hazards and dangers could be expressed in many ways, the use of ‘peril’ has provided a poetic advantage to the alliteration used. The focus on domestic issues begins with the phrase – ‘there are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they will make the mortgage or pay their doctors’ bills or save enough for their child’s college education’. This helps Obama remind the audience of the ensuing housing crisis, problems in the healthcare system and education, aligning them simultaneously with the primary responsibilities of the president. ‘There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair’. Obama has intelligently drawn a contrast to project brave Americans who wake up to face hostile situations in foreign countries and the average American household struggling to sleep due to worries over domestic difficulties. He then refers back to lines from another of Martin Luther King’s speeches – ‘I’ve been to the Mountain top’. – ‘the road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there’. The imagery used by citing mountain-climbing along with ‘we as a people will get there’ evokes Martin Luther’s speech the day before he was assassinated – ‘I’ve been up to the mountain, I’ve looked over and I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land’  Obama further uses pathos at the concluding part of his speech through the story of a 106 year old black woman hailing from Atlanta, who had been one of his many inspirations. In this manner, Obama’s choice again aligns with Martin Luther, who was from Atlanta. The lady, Ann Nixon, represented all the Americans who had witnessed the progress that the country had made during the 20th Century. She had come from a time when women did not have the right to vote apart from the colour of her skin. Thereafter, he focuses on some of the most historic events that she had witnessed during her lifetime. Obama uses the metaphor – ‘there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land’ referring to the ‘Great Depression’. The ‘dust bowl’ refers to the lack of produce and ‘across the land’ implies the effect of the depression on the entire world. He also says – ‘the bombs fell on our harbour’ to symbolize the day when Pearl harbour was bombed forcing the US to enter the Second World War. ‘She was there for the buses in ..Montgomery.., the houses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma,’ As he describes the story of Ann Nixon and her life, he resorts to the antithesis- ‘Yes we can’, taking the audience gradually towards the apogee. The audience roars with chants of ‘Yes we can’ as Obama moves to the final segment of his speech. In the end, Obama treats the audience to a metonymy ‘America’ to inspire citizens on the changes that they needed to bring to the country while remembering their faith, foundations and traditions of the ‘American Dream’ that formed the core part of his message to the audience throughout the speech. Obama ultimately finishes with the phrase – ‘God Bless you. And may god bless the United States of America’, a tradition followed by American presidents during public speeches.   Read More