Barack Obama: The Rhetoric of Political Words

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Table of Contents

Introduction
The rhetoric of Barack Obama
List of references

Introduction

Language is that set of symbolic expressions known only to the human race. Most authors believe that culture is the most important factor that makes humans what they are and distinguishes them from the animal world. And inside culture, language, some pretend, is the most important factor influencing mens life. It was the written usage of language that set the civilization to evolve at its heights. Language is spoken but also not spoken. By not spoken I mean other forms of language communication like written signs, different sets of symbols, etc.

Rhetoric is a part of the language. It is a usage of language. Refereeing to the Merriam Websters Online Dictionary, rhetoric is: The art of speaking or writing effectively as a means of communication or persuasion (rhetoric).

The word is derived from the ancient Greek eiro, which means I say. In its broadest sense, rhetoric concerns human discourse. This is the primary meaning of the word. Later we will see some secondary meanings that are more important to us in this essay. From the scholars, Aristotle was the first ancient philosopher to dedicate some time to the study of this issue. For him, rhetoric was the art of practical wisdom and decision-making. He saw it as a counterpart to logic and philosophical thinking. But Aristotle sees it as a branch of politics. For Aristotle, rhetoric was used by politicians to achieve their goals. Often they used it positively, but often they used it to manipulate the people (Aristotles Rhetoric, par. 1).

So we come to the second meaning of the word as shown by the Merriam Websters Online Dictionary. Rhetoric is also:

a: skill in the effective use of speech;

b: a type or model of language or speech ;

c: insincere or grandiloquent language; (rhetoric)

as we can see from the definition rhetoric is used often in speeches. This use is done to achieve some intentions that the speaker, user of rhetoric, has. This is why it is a useful weapon for politicians.

Rhetoric in political issues has been used as long ago as in Ancient Greece. It is the language that the sophists used to convince the population about their arguments. They used it to pass laws that they thought would be good for society. They used it as a weapon of gaining power and respect among the people. According to Aristotle, rhetoric is composed of three essential parts:

Ethos;

Which is the standing of the speaker or the writer. It has to do with his character, how much does he know the issue he is presenting, is he familiar with it and how do other consider him: virtuous? With high moral standards, etc. (Aristotles Rhetoric, par. 4)

Pathos;

This is the emotional part of rhetoric. The speaker (or writer) in his speech appeals to the emotional, irrational, part of the human beings that are listening, or reading, him. It has to do with the ways he uses words, both written and spoken, to generate emotions to the other with aim to gain support for his thesis. He tries to touch the hearts of the listeners by his words and create strong emotional response in support of his view. (Aristotles Rhetoric, par. 5)

Logos;

This is the rational part of rhetoric. You cannot gain support from the people just by appealing to their hearts and leave aside their minds. So the writer, or speaker, develops logical arguments relating to the issue that is presenting in support of its standing. This, along with the emotional part of the rhetoric is used to convince people that you are doing the right thing and that they should follow you. (Aristotles Rhetoric, par. 6).

Lastly, I want to say that when a person uses rhetoric, he uses it by expressing a personification, a metaphor, or an analogy. The first is the representation of a thing, basically a non-human, as human. The analogy is when you compare a certain situation, or thing, with another situation, or thing. These two have similar characteristics to each other. A metaphor is a pervasive feature of language. As J. R. Searle puts it, we use metaphor to talk about the world in both familiar and innovative ways, and in contexts ranging from everyday conversation to literature and scientific theorizing (1979: 6). So, the metaphor in rhetoric is used to appeal mostly to the heart of the people, their emotional and irrational part. The analogy is used by the logos when constructing an argument and making it easier for the people that are listening to you to understand what you mean. The personification is used both to make appeal to the emotional part of the people in order to make your adversary look ugly or you can use it to make yourself look like a hero. For example you can personify yourself as Superman or as Savior, etc. or you can use it to personify the other as pig with lipstick, etc.

The rhetoric of Barack Obama

As we can see from the introduction, rhetoric is very useful to politicians. They can use it as an art, or a weapon, to convince us of the thing they are doing, or that they intend to do. In a democracy, it is essential to have the approval of the people you are representing and governing. And rhetoric helps politicians do this. it is not that rhetoric is a property only of politicians. It can be used by all of us. Everyone can use rhetoric to try and persuade his friends, family, or relatives that this, or that, that he wants to be done is good for them also. But politicians can send their message to large groups of people. They make speeches that affect millions of people. So when they use rhetoric, they use it on such a scale that many of us will never have the opportunity to do in our lifetime. This is the case even for the rhetoric used by President-elect Barack Obama during this year. As we all know he has been campaigning since the primaries inside the Democratic Party with Senator Hilary Clinton, and after that with Republican Party candidate McCain.

During his almost one-year-long campaign, he has used rhetoric several times. He has also been labeled as the new Cicero by the British national newspaper, The Guardian (Barack Obama: The new Cicero, par. 1). It is interesting to see how Mr. Obama has developed his rhetoric and where has he shown it. We will take a couple of speeches to analyze. The first is the speech that senator barrack Obama gave in his electoral visit in Sarasota, Florida, on October 30, 2008. The second is the speech that he gave election night, November 4, when it was clear that he was going to be the next president of the United States.

I will try to do that by seeing what are the pathos, ethos and logos of the speeches he gave. Senator Obama has presented himself during all of his campaign as a man of the people, from the people and for the people. He has repeatedly pointed out that the people of the United States need change and that he is the right person that can bring this change to America. But first, he had to convince people that they do need that change. So he Florida, I have just two words for you: five days. After decades of broken politics in Washington, eight years of failed policies from George Bush, and twenty-one months of a campaign that has taken us from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California, we are five days away from change in America. (Remarks of Senator Barack Obama in Sarasota, FL, par. 1).

We can see how Mr. Obama is using the metaphor, from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California, to appeal to the patriotism of the people who are hearing him. All of them are part of this country, this beautiful country. He is trying to persuade the people that change is coming and they need no more be worried about their present situation. This is an appeal to the emotional part of the crowd. They have to participate in the change that anyway is coming. Here is another emotional appeal to the people of Sarasota:

Most of all, I knew the American people were a decent, generous people willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations. I was convinced that when we come together, our voices are more powerful than the most entrenched lobbyists, or the most vicious political attacks, or the full force of a status quo in Washington that wants to keep things just the way they are. (Remarks of Senator Barack Obama in Sarasota, FL, par. 7).

He is appealing to the generosity and sacrifice of the American people. As we can see these are irrational parts that Senator Obama was trying to touch in the hearts of the people. They have to believe in him that he is going to make a real change in politics. His speech is connected to the idea that the present party and its representatives in power have brought the country to ruin. So now we have : Folks who cant pay their medical bills, or send their kids to college, or save for retirement cant afford to take a back seat to CEOs and Wall Street banks for four more years. (Remarks of Senator Barack Obama in Sarasota, FL, par. 13).

Here the logos of the speech begin to appear. Mr. Obama not only appeals to the heart of the people by using different metaphors about the situation the country is in, but he uses even logical arguments to convince those who are listening to him.

We are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. 760,000 workers have lost their jobs this year. Businesses and families cant get credit. Home values are falling. Pensions are disappearing. Its gotten harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even keep the electricity on at the end of the month. (Remarks of Senator Barack Obama in Sarasota, FL, par. 14)

Here he is presenting argumentation and facts about the economic situation of the country. This time he is trying to persuade the people of Sarasota and elsewhere that his opponents have let the country go toward crisis. He concludes by using both ethos and logos about the current situation:

And just today, we learned that the GDP, or Gross Domestic Product a key indicator economists use to measure the health of our economy has actually fallen for the first time this year. That means were producing less and selling less so our economy is actually shrinking. And we saw the largest decline in consumer spending in 28 years as wages failed to keep up with the rising cost of living, and folks have been watching every penny and tightening their belts. Now, this didnt happen by accident. Our falling GDP is a direct result of eight years of the trickle-down, Wall Street first/Main Street last policies that have driven our economy into a ditch. (Remarks of Senator Barack Obama in Sarasota, FL, par. 15).

Another rhetorical speech of now President-Elect Barack Obama is that of the Election Night, in Chicago.

List of references

rhetoric. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008. Merriam-Webster Online. Web.
Aristotles Rhetoric. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. Web.
Higgins, Charlotte. Barack Obama: The new Cicero. The Guardian. 2008. Web.
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama in Sarasota, FL. The Obama/Biden Official Website. 2008.
Searle, J. R.Metaphor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1979.

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Barack Obama: The Rhetoric of Political Words

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