Barack Obama Ethos Pathos Logos

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In short, President Barack Obama gave a Commemoration Speech during his presidential campaign at Brown Chapel in Selma, Alabama on Selma Voting Rights March. His speech was powerful and he will go down as one of the greatest President to give speeches. Therefore, in this assignment I will discuss Aristotle’s three ways of persuasion. First, his speech was in a church and his audience was people who regularly attend churches and they usually have respect for their Pastors or guest Preachers because of their qualification. He used the first step of Aristotle three steps known as ethos which is determined through the character of the speaker (Excelsior College, n.d., para 2). Therefore, Mr. Obama nailed the ethos step by gaining credibility with the audience by, stating to the members of the church that, he got a letter from a friend of some of yours named Reverend Otis Moss Jr. in Cleveland, and his son, Otis Moss III is the Pastor at my church and that he got an letter of encouragement from him saying how proud he was that he had announced his Presidential run and encourage him to stay true to his ideas (American Rhetoric, 2007). …show more content…

The term pathos can be defined as, “by appealing to the emotions of the listener (Excelsior College, n.d., para 2).Finally, in his speech he easily accomplish the third part known as pathos because he use well-chosen words and gave images that appeal to the audience (Excelsior College, n.d). For the most part, in accomplishing this task he inform the crowd how their march prepared the way for him by stating, “It is because they marched that I got the kind of education I got, a law degree, a seat in the Illinois senate and ultimately in the United States