Learning Paths » 5A Interacting
I think that yesterday's Obama's speech has some important feature that make it more comprehensible and at the same time make people agree with him.
The first interesting feature is the way he refers to American people and himself. First of all he underlines often the role of common people: their responsibility is not different from that of people who is usually considered important. It means that all difficulties that the United States are facing must be solved neither only by politicians, nor only by ordinary people. They are common problems and they must be solved together. Finally, another important device, is the use of the pronoun "we". The president consider himself an ordinary person who contributes to the creation of a new America.
Another very important device is the relationship he creates with the past. The founding fathers and their actions represents Obama's arguments to demonstrate that the United States are a great nation, even if they are facing a crisis.
The words "crisis" and "difficulties" are often mentioned. The new president doesn't want to hide them. People doesn't want lies, especially if they are evident. Obama prefers to present true facts, but in a constructive way: he propose solutions though still a little abstract.
The choice of the linguistic register is also interesting. The frequent use of anaphors permits the listener to understand better the speech, even among the crowd where thousands of people were during the speech. According to the concept that all human beings have the same rights (often underlined by Obama), the use of a simple languages permits every person to understand it (for example you have not to be very cultured to understand it).
Another aspect that makes more comprehensible the speech is its logical structure. Every sequence is strictly connected with the previous one and has a thesis and his own argumentation especially taken from the past.
The president immediately begins underlining all the aspects of the crisis, supported by data and statistics, stating that the time has come to challenge and choose. He continues describing what kind of people does U.S.A. need now. He finds some models: obscure people in their labour and risk takers, as their predecessors were. They had earned the greatness of America, now it's modern people's turn. As a matter of fact, after finding the demonstration that a new growth is possible, Obama suggests some solutions and after that a possible way to reach them.
Once discussed American inner problems, the president considers U.S.A.'s role in the world and its "mission" to create an era of peace (and he lists all people or nation with which America will cooperate to reach its aim. He thinks that the only ways to reach them are the example of the predecessors and the importance of mutual values. Looking at the sequence of the topics, we notice that Obama seems to answer to any possible question that would be generated from his own consideration.
Another important characteristic of his speech is its cyclic structure. As a matter of fact he begins speaking about the good labour of the predecessors and so speaking of the past. At the end of his speech he imagines what he wants the "children of his children" to say about this generation, and so speaking of the future (that is to say speaking of what America people are doing from their descendants' point of view). And it demonstrates that as the contemporary United States has received much, the future generation must have the possibility to receive much: this is U.S.A.'s responsibility.