A Rhetorical Analysis Of Barack Obama's Speech

At the Democratic Convention in 2004, Barack Obama goes up to the podium not knowing how much the speech he is about to give will affect his future life in politics. Obama begins to speak on the struggles of America and what needs to be improved. He tries to persuade the audience of all the people at the convention that if a democrat is in office, these struggles can be changed to better America. Obama, growing up from a hard life used this to an advantage in his speech. Obama grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. His mother, Ann, and father, Barack Obama Sr., worked hard to give a good life. His parents divorced, and his mother remarried in 1965. Obama then was forced to move to Indonesia to be with his mother and stepfather, then

He uses the peoples’ stories that he has met around the world to convey their struggles, how hard it is for certain people all over the country to thrive in America with the problems that we have. Obama states “more to do for the father that I met who was losing his job and choking back the tears, wondering how he would pay 4500 dollars a month for the drugs his son needs without the health benefits that he counted on.” Using this sad case of a father crying, because he can not afford the necessary medicines to save his son’s life because he doesn't have the health benefits he was told he would have really paints an emotional picture in the audience’s mind. This statement also lets Obama show the audience how if they vote for a democrat in office, they will fix these health problems, and there won’t be any more cases like the father and his son. Obama also states “more work to do for the workers I met in Galesburg, Illinois, who are losing their union jobs--and now having to compete with their own children for jobs that pay seven bucks an hour.” Obama stating this in his speech also tells the audience if you want these horrible things to stop, put a democrat in office, and that the democratic party recognizes the issues that are occuring around the country. Obama using emotional appeal, creates pathos, which forces the audience to sympathize for the people in the story, and want to help them. Obama then goes on to state the Democratic Party can help, and can change their situation, and situations like the people in the examples he used for the better. This makes this speech great because it persuades the audience to the purpose of this speech, which is to support the Democratic