Rhetorical Analysis Of Childhood Obesity

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Childhood obesity in the United States has become a rather large issue. Michelle Obama, the wife of President Barack Obama, has realized this issue, and realizes the dire need to address childhood obesity. Obama is extremely passionate on the eradication of the issue, and whilst speaking radiates a sense of importance connected to the problematic topic. During the Conference of Mayors, First Lady Michelle Obama relates to the general public and refers to countless mayors and high-ranking officials in order to emphasize the validity of the rapidly expanding problem of childhood obesity. During her speech, Michelle Obama uses numerous ethical and emotional appeals to relate herself to the everyday citizens of America, giving the audience a better …show more content…

Obama mentions examples of what she has done in attempt to shrink this issue in order to show her audience how devoted she is to completely erasing obesity within American children. By conveying the immense work she has done in attempt to slow down the swiftly escalating problem of childhood obesity, Obama shows her audience her sole focus is to completely end this epidemic. She also refers to her old job “in a mayor’s office– working for Mayor Daley out in Chicago” (Obama 1), and how she used to “[juggle] a fulltime job with the round-the-clock role of being a mom” (Obama 4). By again using ethos when referencing to her prestigious job working for a mayor, Obama’s credibility increases as she worked hard to reach where she is today. It also shows that Obama was not always just the first lady of the White House; she had a fulltime job and was a mom, which is a struggle so many American mothers go through even to this day. Furthermore, Obama uses both ethos and pathos when mentioning how she is “the first to know that crime rates are rising,” and that she is “the first to get a sense of job losses when CEOs tell [her] that they’ve decided to locate their operations overseas” (Obama 2). Obama mentions these particular incidences because they are emotional and …show more content…

In the very beginning of her speech, she mentions “Mayor Kautz” and how she knows he will “do an excellent job” (Obama 1). Obama uses ethos to build her credibility by referencing to a mayor at the very beginning of her speech over childhood obesity. As she is associated with high-ranking officials like Mayor Kautz, a sense of importance is conveyed over her speech addressing the problem of childhood obesity. In the middle of her speech, she references countless mayors related to the problem of childhood obesity, such as “Mayor Mick Cornett [challenging] the people of Oklahoma City to lose a million pounds” (Obama 6). Showing how countless mayors are in support of Michelle Obama goes to show how important her topic is. Oklahoma City was a great example supporting her topic that hasn’t received much attention. Because of the mayors and high ranking officials she mentioned, Obama has increased support for her fight against childhood obesity. Finally, Obama recognizes “the U.S. Conference of Mayors for [their] leadership in supporting these efforts” (Obama 6). Obama was presenting her speech at the Conference of Mayors, and recognizing their efforts in the issue she is fighting against is a major appeal to ethos in that it shows that the host of where she is giving her speech supports her cause. Overall, her repeated references to mayors were in

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