RHETORICAL SPEECH ANALYSIS

RHETORICAL SPEECH ANALYSIS

            Barrack Obama’s victory in presidential elections held in the year 2012 was celebrated in his backyard of Chicago by all his enthusiasts who celebrated in this history-molding moment. In a big, open-air gathering, Obama made a speech to thank his supporters, outlining the trial he anticipates to make as a president. Obama’s Rhetorical skill and his ability to enthrall and inspire audiences with this powerful speech, has led him being described as the greatest orator of this generation by many writers. This paper will try to analyze the Victory speech by Barack Obama (B. Obama).

The audience comprised of both his supporters and political opponents as it is the case to any other political rally. This called for an ultimate choice of word usage to avoid provoking the opponents who bore the sense of defeat. President Obama thus addresses the audience generally without discriminating his opponents. As it can be seen in his phrase “I wish to thank every American who took part in this process of election. Whether you held an Obama sign or a Romney sign, you made your voice heard and you made a difference.” (B. Obama)

President Obama starts his speech by reminding the audience of the country history under the colonial government “Tonight, about 200 years after our former colony country won the right to define its own fate, the duty of perfecting our union moves forward.” He uses this historical context to remind the audience of the important role of freedom in a country where everybody has a right to choose the leader of his/her choice (B. Obama).

In regard to the choice of words president Obama uses in this speech, it can be seen clearly that the speech is formal. First of all, he addresses the issues affecting the whole of U.S people without any kind of discrimination “Tonight, after the elections, you, the people of American, recapped us that while our way has been hard, while our flight has been long, we have picked ourselves up”

The speech being based on a political environment where some of the audiences have the egoism after emerging the winners, the opponents have the sense of defeat burning inside them. In order to be relevant to both parties, president Obama utilizes certain techniques in his speech (B. Obama).

Deep sense of humility

There is always a deserving winner in every competition who lies in publicity and a loser who will fade into the shadow of obscurity. According to president Obama’s speech as the winner in the election, there was hardly any show of arrogance. He displayed great magnanimity and humility by embracing his political competitors, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in his start of the speech “From George to Lenore to their son Mitt, the Romney family has selected to give back to America through public service and that is the legacy that we honor and applaud tonight” (B. Obama).

Winning the cynics over

There are always detractors for several reasons in any congregation. President Obama knowing that cynics are quick to downplay personal significance, he diverts the focus during his speech neither to himself nor grandeur or the strength of his imminent plans “I know and understand that political campaigns can sometimes seem inferior and even silly. But if you ever get an opportunity to talk to people who turned out at our rallies and congested along a rope line in a high school gym, you’ll discover something else” (B. Obama).

Obamas dash of humor

Humor has an incredible effect of getting down the cold and high walls between the speech audiences. President Obama makes a fascinating segue by appreciating Michelle and his two daughters Sasha and Malia. This got the audience surge into laughter knowing of Sasha and Malia’s targets to have more “friends” at home. “And I’m so proud of you guys. But I will say that for now one dog’s probably enough.” (B. Obama)

Obama uses logos, pathos and ethos within this speech to justify why unity is needed within the country and how unity can and will make the country grow stronger as one.

First of all, Obama’s use logos is very effective. He starts off the speech by explaining the importance of unity within the state and how it will help the country grow stronger as one. He provides the example of 200 years ago when the country people were under colony and denied of their freedom (B. Obama).

In addition to arguing for justification of unity within the country, Obama also argues to address his relationship with his political opponents, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. He wanted to show that despite of political differences, the elections were over and they could toil together to push the state forward.” In the weeks to come, I also look forward to working with Governor Romney to chat on how we can work together to move this country forward.” (B. Obama)

Obama’s use of ethos is also very effective in the speech. By stating the support from his wife and two daughters, he gives credibility to himself. This ensures that the audience knows the importance of unity and how success can be attained within a united nation (B. Obama).

In this speech, president Obama used a number of rhetorical devices to make his speech lively and connect intensely with the audience. The outstanding device was the Anaphora (repetition of a word or phrase). As seen by the phrase “I’ve seen it”, this device really helped to pass and emphasize the message in a successful manner that resonated with the audience (B. Obama).