Take Back America

Barack Obama: Take Back America Speech
- personal opinion -

On June 14th 2006, then Senator Barack Obama delivered a passionate speech during the annual conference Take Back America, now America’s Future Now!, conference which included over the past six years prominent speakers such as John Conyers, Cecile Richards,
Nancy Pelosi, Quentin Young, John Edwards and others.
Barack Obama delivered a very good speech, giving in detail Bush’s ongoing failures and explaining why the “ownership society” doesn’t work. In my opinion, he gave the speech which every American wanted, or in other words, needed to hear. Even though in that time the financial crisis hadn’t appear yet, the American people was still disappointed by its own government, and that’s what Obama used as its utmost tool, or what any politician uses to gain public image.
Obama has an incredible power as a speaker, being able to create an amazing connection with his crowd, not only powerful, but personal too.
His speech is the perfect combination of his background (personal stories), the progressive policy proposal and the message of change, succeeding in promoting his ideas, his party, and the most important – himself. He exploits all the necessities of the average
American, talking about the hardships of everyday life and the “anxiety about the future”.
He easily approaches issues such as the Iraq war, Katrina disaster, health care, education so on and so forth.
The marketing strategy derived from his words is harmoniously used: his target population is sublimely stated, appealing in the same time at America’s heart – “single moms with two jobs”, “African-American people“, “students”, “veterans”, “wounded heroes”; he is not afraid of common people, going to “bake sales and barber shops” to campaign himself.
He uses underprivileged categories, stating that “their voices matter”, a strategy also used by most politicians, not only American, but on a global scale.
Obama makes use of religion and family values, accomplishing to raise awareness, and ultimately set his character in front of America: one of a family-man (“I prayed, and I asked my wife. And after consulting with these higher powers, I threw my hat in the ring.”).

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His speech flows naturally, with jokes or innuendos here and there in order to relax, loosen, excite his listeners.
Another strategy is to take a swipe at the governing party, pointing out the corruption, scandals and broken promises, militating for the honest government that
Americans should have and that will bring or get U.S. in a more progressive place – his party?! He also draws attention to his ideas by using shocking words such as terror, disaster, despair and coffins in relation to the Iraq war, or Katrina survivors having to beg FEMA for trailers. His brilliant technique to awaken the individual is to include himself in the category of people that are outraged against closed-door deals, against those who are bought by oil companies: “I’ve had enough!”- “We’ve had enough!”; “I hoped for something else”, “We’re finally arrived at a moment where something must change”.
He tries to gather, unite all Americans under one roof - their problems. He urges them to vote against failed leadership, to call for change and be against discrimination and racism. Barack Obama was at the perfect place and at the perfect time where America was at a “crossroads” and he gave America exactly what SHE lacked: hope and promise in the
American dream. His words tried to make Americans dream and believe again.
Barack Obama and his charisma pushed the right buttons in his Take Back America
Speech, becoming a “faith healer” and proving himself in front of America as the right choice for the position that he would take two and a half years later, that of The President of The
United States of America.

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