Obama’s ethos with the audience, especially when combined with the specific scenarios that he uses to exemplify the need for his policies. The middle section of the speech is dedicated to the 2004 Presidential Election. …show more content…
Obama rides the momentum.
The crowd’s energy cannot be gathered from the transcript, but he again utilizes emotions, in this case excitement, to draw the audience into his oratory. This quotation is followed by a myriad of examples stating that we are ‘one out of many.’ Mr. Obama says that there are no states based upon race or political views, but that there exists only the United Benjamin Black Rhetorical Analysis Essay 4 States. This connection is powerful because it symbolizes political unity, while masking the truth that he is speaking to a convention of Democrats. This particular section is, arguably, the most powerful because the President pauses to let the momentum settle before launching into the climax of his speech. Again, he uses specific examples to draw people in emotionally, and then attach them logically to his ideas. It should be noted here that the transcript does not include this particular section in its entirety, suggesting that Mr. Obama went slightly off script. At the end of paragraph fourteen, the audience begins to cheer so loudly …show more content…
President Obama’s speech is t extually rich with rhetorical devices and engaging writing, but perhaps of even more significance is the context in which he gave this speech. Mr. Obama was the keynote speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and at the time campaigning to become a US Senator. Perhaps the most important aspect of this setting is that this highly politicized speech was given to an audience of, generally, like- minded people. Mr. Obama’s more recent speeches are often written so as to not wholly offend the opposing party, or sometimes even his own, but in this case he was unabashedly liberal and advocating the election of Senator John Kerry as President. Additionally, Mr. Obama references many topics that were more commonly debated in 2004 than in 2013, but also some that remain relevant. In particular,