Rhetorical Analysis Of President Barack Obama's A More Perfect Union

In the year 2008 President Barak Obama was running for his second term in office. As an African American male, there were concerns of racial tension harming the country. During March of 2008, President Barack Obama gave a speech on unity in the United States called “A More Perfect Union”, in which his delivery and words were clear and moving. (Center, N.C.) Unity is what is needed in this land of diversity. If someone did not feel this was a necessity at the beginning of this speech, it was likely he or she would view America in a new perspective after listening to President Obama speak. He delivered a speech about hope for change in America, which was his message throughout the presidential campaign. “A More Perfect Union” did not talk about …show more content…
Mr. Obama began the speech quoting the Constitution of the United States of America. This was a great way to obtain the audience’s attention. Since this was a speech for a presidential election, it was not surprising that Americans would enjoy hearing a reference to the Constitution and the American dream. Throughout the speech he made the point of a perfectly unified country being the dream and it was the dream our founding fathers had many years ago. Referencing a point a person made in the beginning, during the speech is a good tactic when wanting the audience to remember the main topic and shows relevance throughout. His conclusion was just as strong as his introduction. President Obama left that day with a story about why people have followed and supported his candidacy. He emphasized the bandwagon effect. The bandwagon fallacy is “the argument that since something is popular or everybody is doing it, so should you”. (Bandwagon) In his conclusion he emphasized that he had a massive amount of people voting for him; therefore everyone in the audience should as well. This fallacy is effective on many people but not logical. Throughout the speech he talks about why America needs a perfect union then ends it by asking for a vote in the election. The President’s attention getter and call to action were incredibly effective but it would not have been such a well-written speech if it …show more content…
He has hope for this nation to become that more perfect union he talks about in his speech. Understanding whom a speaker’s primary audience is significant, so he can talk to them in a format that they can understand. Obama’s presence on stage was not that he was better than average citizens but simply one of them stepping up to lead. Throughout the speech there was suitable evidence as to the importance of a change in society. An attribute that would have made this speech better would be to explain how he planned to change society while in office. All in all, President Obama hoped for the best when he was in office, however has society actually grown in unity from 2008 till now? It does not seem like