Barack Obama Ethos Pathos Logos

Barack Obama, the 44th US president, was in deep with controversy when the reverend of his church had been revealed to make numerous ‘anti-american’ statements. The skill of oration and speech would aid him in a rhetorical dismissal of alleged guilt of anti patriotism that was extended from Reverend Wright, Obama’s reverend, to the president himself. In his defense, the president used allusions to the civil rights movement and to christianity, to which the audience can remember and respect and forgive the president’s friend’s flaws. Appeals to logos, ethos pathos, with emphasis on the former, establish a structured argument and a powerful counterargument to many of the audience’s objections to his staying loyal to his friend, while politely

Obama begins to fixate his vastly different relatives and allegorizes himself as a living embodiment of the melting pot country of America with descriptions such as ‘son of a black man from kenya and a white woman from kansas.’, but interjects such statements with the quote ‘i’ve gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world’s poorest nations’; this describes the president as being very well traveled, and thus both qualified for office, and qualified as a representative for a melting pot nation. Additional appeals in the form of logos are used; when referring to the question of his legitimacy as an american based upon the disdained statements of his priest, Obama provides the objecting audience with the rationale ‘i’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.’, and the president simply and logically makes an invaluable connection in many people’s minds. When discussing his questionable association with his priest, he admits his own belief that he would ‘react in the same way’ to the imposing connection between friends. However, in order to preserve the honor and relationship to a friend, Obama admires ‘a man who served his country as a united states marine...,who for over 30 years has led a church that serves the community by doing god’s work here on Earth - housing the homeless,

‘For all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream…’ is an example of where Obama creates a very metaphorical visual, giving the subjects of success the qualities of a struggling animal, desperately doing all it knows from instinct to attain its dream. The image is gritty, and appropriately so, in order to represent the aforementioned struggles of previously oppressed and presently depressed black individuals. He describes the uncertain present and future of these people, lamenting for the young african Americans who are seen ‘standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons’, and thus are much ‘without hope for the future’. Such imagery of misfortune and desperation call for empathy, presenting a reality that many are ignorant of and may be shellshocked by. The description of ‘street corners’ awakens the minds of americans who would see people moping around in the street and would feel only disdain. Obama creates a neural link for his audience between the misfortune of the black community, and puts his audience in its shoes to see the dark world they face, all the while, familiarizing them with a small portion of the torment his Reverend faced in his fighting youth. The imagery describes how oppressed the black community has been in regards to quality of life, and thus gives insight into what