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Barack Obama's speech
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The speech “A More Perfect Union,” was addressed to the people of United States given by the senator Barack Obama. In his speech, Obama was responding to the attention made to the controversial remarks made by Reverend Wright, a former pastor of Obama. Obama addressed the subjects of racial tensions, white privilege, and race and inequality in the United States, discussing black "anger", white "resentment", and other issues as he sought to explain and inquire Wright's controversial comments. He responded to denounce his pastor’s statements by “vehemently disagree[ing with] and strongly condemn[ing]... inflammatory and appalling remarks Wright made about our country, our politics, and my political opponents." He wanted to distinguish that Wright …show more content…
He wanted to be able to give himself character. By telling his story, he admits that he is not “the most conventional candidate” but that “this nation is more than sum of its parts – that out of the many, we are truly one” He was very well educated as he had “gone to some of the best schools in America.” Obama is illustrating that he does have the authority and experience to make these statements. By assuming the role of an uncertain public, Obama supports his credibility when admits that he would “react in much the same way” if all that he knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of sermons. This allows him to explain his association with Reverend Wright and also use the pastor’s controversial remarks to boost his argument for a more perfect union. It was important for him to make sure that the audience knew who he was. He wanted to make sure that the audience was able to relate to
In October 2012 President Obama was reelected as President of the United States of America. Famous for his exceptional speeches in his first term as president there was some pressure on Obama to deliver a notable acceptance speech after such a nail biting election. By using rhetorical strategies in his speech Obama had to reach every audience member whether they were democratic or republican. President Barack Obama grasps every member of his audience by using ethos pathos and even some logos in his 2012 acceptance speech, his very first speech in his second term as president.
When president Barack Obama first walked on the biggest stage in America eight years ago a lot of Americans did not trust his words of wisdom to carry, we the people to a better United States. On January 10, 2017 President Barack Obama walked back on that same big stage now known and loved by so many to give his last and final speech, his Farewell speech. All of the non believers were certainly awoken to the actions that were taken by president Barack Obama to achieve most of what he truly dedicated his life and career to. Obama worked hard to gain the love, respect and dedication by so many loyal americans today. It definitely was not an easy task to achieve, many trials and many errors. In this analysis I will state weather or not Obama’s
Summary: This book, Barack Obama, was an expository. It informs readers about the life of Barack Obama – from his childhood to his adult life as President of the United States. This book talked about how Obama came from a multicultural family with a mom from Kansas and his father from Kenya. It continues to discuss Barack’s elementary and high school years, meeting his wife, and having two daughters. Furthermore, it explains how Obama entered politics and won his first political race in 1996. As time went on, Obama progressed to further political achievements. On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama became the first African American President of the United States.
He makes sure his audience connects with him directly by making them feel at his level, and at hiss. This way he connects to the audience, and in exchange, helps his statement of unity. Using various examples of parallelism, anaphora and refrain, Obama brands the theme of equality and togetherness in our country throughout the speech, vital to gaining the respect of his audience. Obama recalls the ‘enduring strength of the constitution’ by delving into the past alluding to America’s allegiance to the Declaration of Independence by quoting “we hold these truths. that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.
Roy Peter Clark, author of “A More Perfect Union”: Why It Worked, takes a stance on President Barack Obama’s speech while analyzing it. President Barack Obama delivered a speech titled “A More Perfect Union.” His speech focused on the prominent issue of racism in America. In this article, Clark talks about President Obama’s known power and brilliance. Clark makes references and comparisons to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and W.EB. DuBois. “A More Perfect Union” features writing techniques that makes the message more defined and effective. President Obama utilizes four closely related rhetorical strategies. Clark broadly explains the purpose of the rhetorical strategies. Allusion, parallelism, two-ness, and autobiography helped to shape President Obama’s speech that that was meant to create
At the time of this speech, Barack Obama is running for the Democratic Presidential candidate as well as being called into question when his former pastor publicly accused the government of committing hateful acts against black Americans. He addresses the American public then tries to persuade them to recognize that he understands both the white Americans and the black Americans. He uses ‘we’ and ‘us’ to show that he truly views the people as one as opposed to various separate groups, “… we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together, unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction…” He wants to move past the racial segregation and move towards a truly unified country, and he uses pathos by talking about his upbringing. The use of the descriptions of his youth with a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas shows that he can relate to the common person seeing as he had to adjust to both sides of his families as well as the stigmas that both sides had. The urgency in which Obama answered the accusations of being similar to Wright,
Obama gave the speech, according to his opening in a shorter, meaning in a few words as possible. Although he did so his speech was clear and easy to comprehend. The conclusion was also memorable. He spoke of Dr. King and showed pictures of important people who influenced us in one way or another. Obama talked about how he sees our future unfolding in workers on the assembly line, students, soldiers, and elderly women making him hopeful about our future. We need to face the future with confidence is basically what Obama was saying and that our future depends on us, the citizens and we need to take advantage of the many opportunities.
"There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white". This is during the time when he describes a job interview with a man in Chicago. It seemed that race had been a part of their discussion as the white had a certain air about himself seeing Obama being a black, but instead of getting de motivated and upset about the behavior from the white Obama took it as an opportunity and showed what his true talent was. And at the end he was able to win the person, which was one of his many passions.
In January of 2010, President Obama presented the annual State of the Union address. In the address Obama speaks about many things he has accomplished in the past year and hopes to accomplish in the coming year. The first thing he wants to accomplish is health care reform. The next issue he needs to accomplish is the budget. Then, Obama speaks about some bills and policies that he wants to go into place. The ones that were specifically brought up were the climate bill and the cap-and-trade. Lastly, they share their views and perceptions on Obama and his administration. In the Washington Post Will and Gerson discuss the State of the Union address. In these works the authors both agree about the address and the messages sent to the American
Specifically, when Obama says in lines “Removing the flag from this state 's capital would not be an act of political correctness. It would do no harm, it would simply be an acknowledgement that the cause for which they fought the cause of slavery was wrong.” This serves as to say actions always have a deeper meaning and that you can 't always please everyone but you must take an effort to correct and make up for past mistakes. Obama does this to remind the South Carolina people of this harsh time and they were able to perceive and create a stronger country. Another way he uses pathos is when he remarks how “The whole week [President Obama] reflected on the idea of grace, the grace reverend Pinckney would preach about in his sermons. The grace described in one of {President Obamas] favorite hymnals- the one we all know” he continues to go on and sing amazing grace. This shows the reader how Reverend Pinckney’s sermons were with such connections to the hierarchy that they were almost a god given gift that was sent from the heavens to bring everyone together just like the song “Amazing Grace” which is known throughout the world. Obama also uses all theses quotes to show how he has taken the time to relate to the ideologies and beliefs of the Reverend as well as to show to these people attending this funeral and to the people watching it across the country that he is
We may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction. Barack Obama’s speech “A More Perfect Union” (Nov. 17, 2008) captivates our nation with its thought out structure of the division and inequality in America. Obama successfully used allusion and repetition. Along with personal anecdotes to identify with the audience.
He uses allusion and repetition of words to prove his points about racial discrimination. His main goal is for the country to stay united and put discrimination aside, and continue the path of the ones who came before us. Obama alludes to the civil war by saying,” continue the long march” which illustrates the march that the north did to the south to stop race discrimination, as well as the fact how the north opposed with slavery and wanted to make south stop (1). The other device he uses in his speech was the repetition of words by using the word “more” to express his main goal and focus. Although the country is so called “free” his main goal is still to improve America in every way possible and put race discrimination completely aside. In the speech, he expresses his tone by saying,” more just, more equal, more free, more caring, and more prosperous America.” Which goes to the fact that he is trying to even improve America more in every way possible. If we improve our country even more, then we will not be having any issues in our
After his former preacher, Jeremiah Wright, gave such exigence for this discussion by making claims that the U.S. government treated black people harshly, Obama was pretty much forced to act. And with great credence and rhetoric, he did. The soon to be president, and also the first African American man to be president, first sets grounds for his speech by inserting himself into the context of the racial history of America, creating the modern-day setting of a war that is centuries in age. He then appealed to pathos by bringing light to his audience with examples of racial corruption and inequality to highlight the huge need for unity and change. And finally, he capitalized on these sentiments by appealing to ethos to advocate methods of change. With the great success of this historic and rhetorical speech, Obama assumed a new podium in November of that same exact year, but this time, to accept his election as the President of the United
By placing himself in this role, he creates the impression that as the father figure he is also in a position to give advice and serve as an educator. Obama then goes on to soothe and insure his nation that questioning and reflecting is natural, stating that “When a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations –to try to impose some order on the chaos, and make sense out of that which seems senseless,” and then goes into the role of an educator by telling the story of each of the victims of the shooting. By telling each victim’s story, Obama further elicits an emotional response from the audience by effectively humanizing each person. This further creates a sense of unity, making it seem as if Obama really knew the victims, and making each person more relatable to the audience so that each member of the audience might feel as though any one of the victims could have been their neighbor or beloved family
In a quotation by Barack Obama on November 4, 2008, he says “That is the true genius of America-that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow”. Obama's inauguration speech mirrors the ideas expressed by that quote. Barack Obama's message in his speech is that through hope and change, we can pull the country out of recession, out of turmoil, and out of any difficult tasks we'll have ahead of us. What we have achieved shows that we can achieve it again, and the only reason these feats were achieved was because we were one nation working together. Obama successfully incorporate rhetoric into his speech to make it emotional, believable, and logical. His speech is a great representation of a well written rhetorical essay.