Sunday, October 2, 2011

Regarding the Back-to-School address by PotUS, Barack Obama

Following this sentence is a haphazard and amateurish rhetorical analysis of the Back-to-School address by President Obama:

I immediately notice the hand gestures to the audience, to begin the speech with a signal of familiarity. Obama seems to smile a lot, what a friendly person! He gives kudos to many people who he feels deserves recognition, establishing him as a humble person. He references his knowledge of school schedules to establish his trustworthiness. He clearly outlines his goals for the speech, and speaks passionately. I notice, specifically, that he gradually speaks louder when talking about essential points, or other important components of the speech. He emphasizes his own personal experience to improve his ethos. He emphasizes the importance of now, and the positive impact that current efforts will have on the future. He uses language "you guys, etc." and expresses genuine concern by speaking passionately, so that the listener has all the more of a motive to listen to him. He tone differs depending on what he's saying; for example, when he mentioned that his favorite subject in Middle School was basketball (lol, humor) he spoke in a light and jovial tone, but when he talked about the urgency of continuing education, he was serious and used a heavy tone. He has specifically tailored this speech to use reasonable appeals that would leave an impression on a student listener. He uses the pronoun "you" to familiarize himself with the audience ever further. The pointing wish his fingers was especially... Poignant (forgive me). The specific examples help to reinforce his hopeful message, and make his (potentially) difficult goals seem reachable. He ends on a positive note, just encouraging students to try their best, and emphasizes the need for hard work, which is definitely not unreachable. Over all, he spoke very reasonably, while still maintaining that any student is capable of doing great things. What a hopeful fellow!

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