This speech is made by Bill Clinton for the audience to re-elect the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama. Clinton talked about Obama’s contributions and ideas that helped America during Obama’s term. The audience of such speech would most likely be the Americans interested in electing a president. Bill Clinton himself was a former president, which boosted ethos; he was once an expert authority on this field, so his words seem trusted. Still the main appeal to ethos in the speech isn’t for Clinton, but for Obama instead. Throughout the speech, he presents information in a didactic tone to describe Obama’s achievements. Clinton’s speech appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos using the common place; at the same time, he refutes some of the Republican’s ideas.
One of the dominant rhetorical tactic Clinton used was the commonplace. For example, the speech creates unity, a commonplace, by the use of pronouns. In the first sentence, Bill Clinton said “we’re here”, which shows that they, all Americans , are inclusive in choosing a strong president for America. Next is the use of diction. He mentions how Obama can build “America’s Dream economy”, which is also what everyone in the audience wants. Notice how he uses the “America” instead of “our”. He continues to use America a lot of times to create a harmonious whole. After that, Clinton brags what Obama had done and mentions Obama’s experiences and feats. All of these appeal to ethos. Obama’s virtues can be seen by Clinton’s