Rhetorical Analysis Of Barack Obama's The Audacity Of Hope

Barack Obama’s keynote address, “The Audacity of Hope”, at the 2004 Democratic National Convention went down as a pivotal early moment for the senator, setting the foundation for his presidential run and eventual victory in 2008. But the speech itself established that he wanted Americans, including republicans and independents, to vote for John Kerry as president in 2004. This convention was just after democrats had nominated Kerry as the party’s bid for president, so they wanted to immediately start campaigning for their representative. And Obama was the one chosen to write and deliver a speech to do just that. So, through well used metaphors, anaphora, and abstract language in his speech, Obama persuaded the nation to vote for John Kerry …show more content…
There are several words throughout the piece that add to it figuratively. Words such as “freedom”, “faith”, “liberty”, “fear”, and more add drama that affects the audience even though they have no concrete meaning. This also allows the readers to interpret Obama’s speech with strong emotional ties that are important to them in particular. One powerful statement that exemplifies this is “That is the true genius of America, a faith -- a faith in simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles; that we can tuck in our children at night and know that they are fed and clothed and safe from harm;” This quote from Obama’s address includes two important words, faith and harm, which don’t have concrete definitions, but have important meaning to the audience. Faith, for example, technically means to believe strongly in something, but as an abstract word, there is limitless contexts it can fit into, which is why all readers can identify themselves with and understand it. So, the abstract language spread all across the speech helps Obama connect his points realistically to the audience so they are comprehensible for