Obama's Speech

President elect Barack Obama made his acceptance speech in Chicago, Illinois on November 4th.  Throughout his speech, me mentioned how that night was a night of change for America.  He focussed in on the importance of that night.  Like other speeches before him, he thanked family, friends, and those who campaigned for him.  He also mentioned how they had the best political campaign in the history of elections.  Obama uses pathos by focussing on the audience and connecting with them.  He mentions how the campaign started all over the United States, and this makes the audience feel closer to him.  He used the calm voice he is known for by speaking of togetherness and unity in a patriotic way.  He also uses pathos when he mentions the puppy that his daughters are getting when they move into the White House.  He shows his respect towards McCain and Palin who lost, yet he still congratulated them for their hard work.  His speech reflected the ideas of his campaign: change for America.

Previous Speeches

I chose to write about John Kerry's 2004 concession speech.  The beginning of his speech was very personal.  He thanks everyone for their warm welcome and affection.  Then he mentions his phone call to President Bush.  Throughout his speech, he is very patriotic by mentioning the need for unity in America.  He explains how "we are required to work together", yet I find this somewhat contradicting because he also mentions says "we cannot win this election" referring to the Democratic Party as 'we' rather than America itself.  He focusses in on his supporters a lot and even responds to an individual audience member.  He uses pathos by talking about his family and mentioning all their names.  He even refers to old friends and supporters.  Also, he tells the audience that he wants to just "wrap you up in my arms".  That is another example of pathos.  He really builds on the idea of a strong audience connection.  He brings in the quote "God Bless America" to help support his ethos and it adds to the patriotism.  I somewhat got the idea that he was not certain that the votes were fair and accurate judging by his negative attitude towards the voting machines.