Obama Rhetoric

Five cannons of rhetoric in Obama’s speech
Without a doubt, rhetoric is almost always linked to the political field and the individuals who operate within it. For hundreds of years, presidents have been utilizing rhetoric to make their points and to outline their positions on important issues before the nation. President Obama certainly used many forms of rhetoric and rhetorical devices during his long journey that eventually ended at the steps of the White House, and he did not stop there. During his inaugural speech, President Obama put to use many, if not all, of the methods that are commonly taught at our institutions.

Traditionally, rhetoric is based on creative arguments and analyzing, but in the early twentieth century people gave
President Obama chose to organize his ideas with a general theme that ran the length of the speech. The theme of returning to the ideals of the founding fathers touched every aspect of the speech: the war, the economy, and foreign relations. By doing this, the President made his speech more consistent and easier to follow.
Style is next. President Obama’s words met all basic aspects of good style; they were correct, clear, and appropriate. He avoided all grammatical flaws and he used a combination of complex and simple sentence structures to add variety to his speech. He chose words that are used every day, and therefore easily understood by the general public. President Barack Obama not only met, but also exceeded, these standards of style.
Masters of rhetoric have long taught and emphasized the importance of memory in speech giving. Not only does memorizing a speech increase a speaker’s credibility, or ethos, but it also adds to an image of organization and preparedness that speakers strive for. Anyone who watched President Obama give his inaugural speech can note that, although there were undoubtedly Teleprompters present, he maintained an image that suggested that he had memorized the entire speech. Memory also has a great deal to do with the last part of the rhetorical cannon,
For instance, he mentioned a time in America’s history when a black man, like his father, would not be served in public restaurants. Statements like these not only emotionally reach each and every American, but they also help to build President Obama’s ethos because it was his father who would have faced segregation in the country he is now the Commander and Chief of. In addition, President Obama focuses and emphasizes on American working class, when he mentions “our workers” “our minds” “our goods” “our capacity”. This is done through the use of the rhetorical devise anaphora, which is when repetition occurs at the beginning of each subsequent thought, phrase, clause or sentence (Crowley & Hawhee