ipl-logo

Euphemism In Barack Obama's War On Terror

831 Words4 Pages

As Barack Obama prepares for yet another reassuring speech, even his most devoted adherents hold out little hope for change. However, in spite of this, America can be assured of one thing: no matter what the president says, it will be cunningly wrapped in ambiguous euphemism. This comes as a result of constant inconsistency from our current leader, as there continues to be a negative correlation between promises made and promises fulfilled. Therefore, in order to conceal the extent of the pitiful unsuccessfulness of his campaign as of late, Obama plays off what he perceives as the public's inability to comprehend over-complicated and sterilized phrases. Said phrases serve as metaphorical masks, as the pure complexity and neutrality of the words seem to cleanse the original language of all its emotion and connotation. …show more content…

Through a rather basic observation of Obama’s “War on Terror” campaign, one can come to find that the president has completely deconstructed the conflict into a host of euphemisms aimed at misleading the public; hence, it has been labelled “Obama's All Euphemism Foreign Policy” ever since. War and conflict are topics which cause civil unrest due to their negativity and correlation with danger, and therefore, in order to maintain peace and tranquility throughout our beloved nation, Barack Obama utilizes euphemisms to strip the associated language of every bit of its negativity. Rather, it is replaced with intricate, emotionless words aimed at creating a false image of war, as well as a flawed sense of

Show More
Related
324 Words | 2 Pages

In 2002, then Senator Barack Obama addressed fellow anti-war rallyist by using scesis onomaton to emphasis his views on why invading Iraq is unreasonable. He signifies that this war is an unrealistic decision by saying that “a dumb...rash war” would only cause more tension between nations. Obviously, he was not anticipating a clear answer because he knew that President Bush would not be able to defend his argument on why the American people should fight against Iraq. Obama brings attention to his audience by repeating similar words like “dumb” and “rash” in order to get his point across of how unnecessary this war will be. He establishes that he “does not oppose all wars”, but he does oppose those which add more fuel to the fire.

Read More
215 Words | 1 Pages

Before delving into Azari’s conclusions on mandate rhetoric, her methodology is interesting. She analyzes a dataset of news conferences, television and radio addresses, minor addresses made during travel and at meetings of groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, messages to Congress, and various remarks and memoranda addressed to members of the executive branch, totaling 1,467 communications from 1933 to 2009. The important thing to note is that she confines her dataset to the first 70 days of each term of a president. She argues this controls for “exogenous events and facilitates comparison across presidential administrations.” The problem with this small size is that it limits the dataset to roughly 5 percent of a single presidential term.

Read More
1112 Words | 5 Pages

In his “9/11 Address to the Nation” the 43rd President of the United States of America, George W. Bush assures that America will not be affected by the unruly and evil attacks carried out on September 11th, 2001. The President drafted this speech to resist the impending fear and questioning that American citizens around the country would soon be consumed by. Because 9/11 was the most impactful, yet devastating terrorist attack on the United States to date, Bush was not able to derive his thoughts from others’ ideas and speeches, thus he was forced to dig deep and extract the emotions and thoughts aroused by the “despicable acts.” Much like any great leader, President Bush wanted to stress the importance of instilling a sense of pride and resilience in the country and fellow countrymen and women to come together and remain as one. As the head of the “brightest beacon of freedom and opportunity” President George W. Bush declares that the United States of America will “remain strong” and appear unaffected as the country continues to build and rebound from the senseless acts of terrorism and hate.

Read More
771 Words | 4 Pages

During a funeral for Reverend Clementa Pinckney, a Charleston shooting victim, President Obama delivered an influential eulogy. This eulogy turned out to be so powerful that it traveled throughout the internet and became known as one of Obama’s best speeches from the duration of his presidency. The speech resonated so well with many citizens because of its relatable content and connections to passionate issues in today’s society. The delivery of the eulogy played a gigantic part in its effectiveness to Americans as well. President Obama’s eulogy contained beyond relatable content and various connections to the issues racking society’s bones today.

Read More
1441 Words | 6 Pages

He was faced with the difficult task that evenings of letting the world know what took place that day, and help the American people through a day of shock and disbelief. In a time of unspeakable evil, George W bush addresses that nation using rhetorical appeals; together with the history of American ideas to reassure and untie not only Americans, but the world to stand together and fight back on the war of terrorism.

Read More
1767 Words | 8 Pages

Bush uses in his famous speech is metonymy, the substitution of some attributive or suggestive word for what is actually meant. The way Bush uses metonymy adds an appeal of imagery and relation to the topic of American perseverance: "These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve," (par. 3). In this remark, the "steel" of American resolve is not used to describe literal steel but more of America's strength as a country. Throughout his "9/11 Address to the Nation" speech, George W. Bush uses rhetorical devices such as ellipsis and metonymy to reinforce the impact and emotion of his words, showing how our great nation has been shocked by acts of terror, but will come together as one to

Read More
591 Words | 3 Pages

This speech, George W. Bush’s 9/11 Address to the Nation, was remarkable for its use of metaphors, anaphoras, and allusions. George W. Bush’s use of metaphors gave hope and determination to the citizens of America.

Read More
573 Words | 3 Pages

On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh detonated a bomb, killing 168 American citizens, in Oklahoma. It was the cruelest terrorist act ever conducted on American soil, and it stunned the nation. President Bill Clinton presents a speech following the terrorist attack to reassure his audience-- the frightened and affected American citizens-- they are not alone when it comes to the pain they feel and American will always be there to lean on through the use of the rhetorical devices: asyndeton, parallelism, and anaphora. In President Bill Clinton’s introduction of his speech, he conveys himself to be relatable emotionally to the alarmed Americans through the rhetorical device asyndeton to build a sense of trust.

Read More
478 Words | 2 Pages

Rhetorical Analysis Former Illinois State Senator and soon to be Forty-fourth president of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, recounts what happened in the past to make America what is today and how he intends to maintain the ideas of America’s founding fathers throughout his term of presidency. His intended audience of the first inaugural address is the citizens of America and his purpose was to comfort them about the past and encourage the future of America. He creates a patriotic and empowering tone in order to appeal to pathos. His diction throughout the speech illustrates patriotism, allusions, and anaphoras. Obama opens his speech by discussing the views of our forebears and documents and how we have followed through with those views.

Read More
357 Words | 2 Pages

President George W. Bush gave a speech titled “9/11 Address to the Nation,” where he reassures the nation of our country’s strength and even calls it the “brightest beacon for freedom.” This event was a suicide bombing of the World Trade Center where approximately 3,000 people were killed and nearly 6,000 more were injured. Although it was one of the worst attacks in American history, it unified the nation in more ways than one. This speech was made even more important after a tragedy like 9/11 because the nation had been frightened by these acts of terror and was in need of the inspiration of our most powerful leader: the commander-in-chief. Throughout this speech, Bush uses rhetorical devices such as pathos, analogy, epithet, and asyndeton

Read More
1124 Words | 5 Pages

In Obama’s “ A More Perfect Union” speech he uses rhetorical strategies. Obama is acknowledging the current state of America, the good and the bad and how we could all help to make it better. He uses repetition, allusion, and many more to convince the American people that if they want a better America for everyone to vote for

Read More
884 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout his speech, Barack Obama’s use of metaphor allows the audience to make powerful connections and conclusions; therefore, persuading them to support his plans. While analyzing past presidential inaugurations, Obama compares peace and prosperity to the ocean and economic crisis to gathering clouds and raging storms stating: “Forty-four Americans have now taken the

Read More
950 Words | 4 Pages

Obama’s use of repetition in his speech makes his praise of John Kerry more powerful and by using the same words in different contexts, he shows that his ideas are important and relevant to all people. For example, “It’s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire [...] the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant [...] the hope of a millworker’s son [...] the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name [...].” In this passage, the repetition of “the hope” applied to descriptions of different situations conveys the idea that everyone needs hope, and that America is a country built on hope. Obama also uses anaphora to drill certain ideas into the audience’s minds.

Read More
978 Words | 4 Pages

Barack Obama’s win for President in 2009 was a historical moment for the United States. His inaugural speech was much anticipated, because this was going to set the tone for his presidency. His speech told the American people that improving the economy is one of his priorities, but there were also other areas he would like to improve like healthcare and the education system. This was a speech that was meant to persuade the American public to take action for them to rise as a nation again, and for them to put their trust into him. His message addressed a couple of specific points like his gratefulness to the American people, the different crises America is facing, how America will overcome these crises, replying to his cynics, addressing the world, and then he reminded America again to be brave like they’ve always been to overcome the hard times (5 Speechwriting Lessons from Obama's Inaugural Speech, (n.d.).

Read More
1341 Words | 6 Pages

Rhetorical Analysis of Obama’s Victory Speech Barack Obama was re-elected as the president of the US on November 6, 2012 from Chicago, Illinois. This paper will throw light and analyse various elements Barrack Obama is using to portray his political ideology to audiences through his speech. I intend to focus on the rhetorical effects of the speech. By using various form of rhetorical tools such as Tautology or Anaphora, President Obama gives a speech which focuses on the idea of American life such as the American dream, American promise and the future.

Read More

More about Euphemism In Barack Obama's War On Terror

Related Topics

Open Document