RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

Rhetorical Analysis - A More Perfect Union

Rhetorical Analysis - A More Perfect Union

Introduction

A More Perfect Union is the name of a speech delivered by Senator Barack Obama on March 18, 2008 as a response to controversial remarks made by his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Obama addressed the subjects of racial tensions, white privilege, and race and inequality in the United States, discussing black “anger,” white “resentment,” and other issues as he sought to explain and contextualize Wright's controversial comments. The effectiveness of Obama's speech rests within a few related rhetorical strategies such as allusion, parallel constructions, and his ability to include himself as a character in a narrative about race, just to name a few (Weaver, 2009).

Often, though, an introductory quote serves more to set context, to be a background for what is to come. In other words, the speech itself will be a variation on a theme, a theme made aphoristic by the quote. Here however, as we discover as the speech progresses, Obama does something different. The quote becomes not just the theme, but the motif, so that the words of the quote echo, like the refrain of a song, reinforced by the lyrics - the structure and argument. Perhaps because I'm currently studying (and teaching) Lincoln's Cooper Union speech I see a parallel. But I suspect that Obama recognized another such transformative moment. I just looked at Kennedy's speech in Houston to the Baptist ministers, to see if there was any similarity. In directness and forthrightness, yes; in rhetorical mastery, obviously. But in structure, I didn't see an echo here. The effectiveness of Obama's speech rests within a few related rhetorical strategies such as allusion, parallel constructions, and his ability to include himself as a character in a narrative about race, just to name a few (Perelman, 2009).

President Obama opens the speech by reciting, “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union,” which is easily recognized as the first line in the U.S. Constitution. Even those who do not possess complete knowledge of the famous line immediately understand that something of importance is being conveyed to them. The audience is fully aware of the division between the races, and the speech is very effective due to the fact that Barack Obama is willing to speak of what is often unspoken. When addressing his intellectual character, Obama mentions that he has “gone to some of the best schools in America” (Obama, 2008).

Throughout the speech, Obama demonstrates his awareness of past occurrences and present concerns on the global scale. Senator Obama recalls the “legacy of slavery and Jim Crow” within our nation. He acknowledges the present dangers of “conflicts in the Middle East” and explains the cause of such conflict. The audience is given evidence that he understands the role of history as well as the present-day global concerns affecting our nation. In many writings and speeches parallelism is used for the reason that parallel constructions help authors and speakers make certain ...