Rhetorical Analysis Of A More Perfect Union

Breaking Down Obama “A More Perfect Union” was a speech given by Barack Obama on March 18, 2008 during the presidential race. Obama addressed the issues of race and the scandalous comments of Reverend Wright, his former pastor, and shortly before the speech, was part of his campaign. Obama discusses the issues of racial tension and white privilege in the United States. He also strives about coming together as a nation, by improving each other and our outlook on this country. The use of these three appeals works to establish Obamas credibility and persuades the audience to vote for him. It is clear that Obama is establishing ethos in the first part of his speech. To establish ethos the listener must believe that the Obama is well educated, therefor they will believe what he says. Obama is able to establish ethos throughout this speech, on many different levels that capture the audiences attention. “I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas… I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners…I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents” (Obama 1). By telling the audience of his rich family
By structuring his speech around ethos, logos, and pathos he is able to capture the audience on an emotion level and persuade them towards unity. Obama is also able to take a very wrangling issue, such as race and address it in such a respectable manner using the appeal of logos. By warping together all three of these appeals into his speech, Obama is able to tie together the three essential qualities that a speech must need for the audience to accept his message. Each one of these appeals is to direct the audience in a different way and in his speech he has them in perfect order to control the