Effective Use Of Rhetorical Devices In Obama's Speech

Obama’s 2004 Keynote speech is one of the strongest speeches that Obama has ever given. Though the speech was incredible, the cause can be found in the exact words that he used. If Obama had not used rhetorical devices in his speech, it could have been much worse. Obama’s goal in this piece is to show the public that some politicians really do care about what does happens to the country. The author uses devices to emphasize his points, in particular he uses anaphora, segregating style, and strong language. Obama uses anaphora on many occasions in his speech, he uses them to clarify what he is saying. This is shown in the quote, “Go into the collar counties [...] people will tell you they don’t want their tax money wasted, by a welfare agency [...] Go in -- Go into any […] city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government”. Another way he uses anaphora is to emphasize what he is saying. This is shown in this excerpt using anaphora, “we can tuck in our children at night and know that they [...] safe from harm; that we can say what we think,”. To summarize, Obama uses anaphora to improve the clarity and meaning of the piece. …show more content…
One reason that he does this is to explain abstract concepts in simpler terms, instead of explaining them. This keeps his piece simple and easy to listen to, which adds to the overall feel of the piece. In this excerpt, he really shows what he can do with strong language, “John Kerry believes in an America where hard work is rewarded; so instead of offering tax breaks to companies shipping jobs overseas, he offers them to companies creating jobs here at home”. This excerpt makes use of many words, tax breaks, hard work, shipping jobs, with strong connotations, which allows for him to make his point that John Kerry is for