Rhetorical Analysis Obama Throught President Obama’s speech addressing gun control, Obama effectively uses both the appeal of ethos and repetition in order to persuade individuals into agreeing with him on the topic of tightening gun control. To begin with, in order to increase his credibility on the affair and in hopes of persuading his audience, Obama resorted to the use of ethos. This is seen when he states, ”I’m not on the ballot again. I’m not looking to score some points” (Obama 2). This line refers to the 2016 presidential campaign, and more importantly the fact that Obama will not be, and cannot run again. By showing his audience that even though his term is coming to an end, he still cares for the future of the United States of …show more content…
He says,”We know we can’t stop every act of violence… but maybe we can stop one act of evil, one act of violence”(Obama 2). In this line, Obama is indicating that although America, and specifically the issue of increasing amounts of violence in America will never be will never be “perfect”, perfection can still be aimed towards. This very real goal is found multiple times throughout the speech as Obama continues to restate the idea that improvement should always be an option. Another example of this is when he says,”We can’t save everybody, but we can save some”(Obama 2). Here Obama is addressing the violence and deaths connected to guns. He again says that although the solution isn’t perfect, it is another step towards resolving the issue, leaving the idea of improvements to gun control laws fresh in the audience's mind. Utilizing the rhetorical device of repetition, allows Obama to keep this idea in the audience's mind, with the goal of persuading the audience to come to terms with his idea of tightening gun control. In conclusion, by utilizing the rhetorical devices of the appeal of ethos and repetition, President Obama was able to deliver a strong speech on gun control, and achieve his goal of persuading individuals to join him on the road to strengthening laws on gun