CASE & LINDER 1

Ashley Case & Taylor Linder

Doctor Blair
UWRT 1102-009
10 October 2014
Time for War
It is said that history repeats itself, and Larry Gatlin, a country music artist, is
trying to convince President Obama to keep that from happening. In Gatlins open letter
to the president, he is trying to convince Obama that it is time for America to go to war
with ISIS. Gatlin constantly refers back to World War II, the devastation it brought, and
how the American people should not have to continue to endure terrorist attacks.
Throughout Gatlins letter to President Obama, he constantly argues his point through the
use of fallacies which tend to invalidate his stands. Although Gatlin uses many fallacies
to slant his writing, the three most prominent are: sarcasm, slippery slope, and the use of
historical analogies.
A common tactic that Gatlin uses to argue his point is sarcasm, which is a s
species of ad hominem. Nancy Wood defines this as attacking the persons character
rather than a persons ideas (Wood 3) in order to discredit these individuals with the
public (Wood 3). Gatlin begins his letter by personally attacking the Presidents actions
during this time of crisis. He says, Its been quite a summer. The world is not a pretty
place right now but I see you have had a chance to play golf. In fact youve played golf
through the worst of it. Right after announcing that American journalist James Foley had
been beheaded. (Gatlin 1). Instead of confronting the President about his ideas on the
situation, he sarcastically criticizes and assumes the fact that he was golfing. In reality,

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Gatlin has no idea when or why Obama was golfing. He simply takes what he can find to
bash the President in order to turn the public against him. He portrays a tone that makes it
seem like he is light-hearted about the situation, but he actually is feeling the opposite.
Salzman, an author for Forbes's, wrote a piece on Obama regarding his summer vacation.
She makes a valid point in saying that People still believe that the American president
should never take a break to recharge or spend time with his family. Never mind that
even when President Obama goes on vacation, he remains connected to world affairs,
briefed by aides and able to respond if neededeven returning to Washington this
summer for a day and a half of meetings. (Salzman 1). Although the President is
expected to remain in the office every minute of every day, we have to remember that he
has a family and life of his own. While he may be seen out playing golf, that does not
necessarily mean that he is not working simultaneously. So, instead of attacking Obama
for playing golf, Gatlin should focus on the relevant, specific efforts that the President is
making in office to either help or harm the situation.
Another fallacy that is present in Gatlins letter is slippery slope. Nancy Wood
defines this as a scare tactic that suggests that if we allow one thing to happen, we will
immediately be sliding down the slippery slope to disaster (Wood 4). With Americans
being told that we can not handle another war 10,000 miles away, Gatlin attempts to
scare Obama by describing the horrific event of 9/11, which he believes to happen again
if we stay on this path. He asks the President, Do Americans have the stomach to see
planes crash into our buildings again, or citizens running through the streets of New York
City with the residue of those buildings and the ashes of those who were burned alive on
their faces again, or a man and wife holding hands and jumping out of an 80th story

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window, together, to keep from being burned alive again? (Gatlin 3). There is no telling
what would happen if we do not go to war, but Gatlin automatically assumes that we will
be heading towards a destructive future. Gatlin may believe that he knows exactly what
would happen, but no single person can make that call, not even the President. He is
mistaken to say that if the President does not take a certain course of action, then this and
this will occur, because in reality, Gatlin has no way of telling what will happen. Sure,
another terrorist attack could occur, but until it does Gatlin has no right to state that.
The third, and final fallacy we found in Gatlins letter is historical analogies.
Wood defines historical analogies as what is going on now in terms of what went on in
similar cases in the past (Wood 4). Throughout his letter, Gatlin is constantly bringing
up past wars and terrorist attacks. Gatlin attempts to connect World War II and todays
religious terror by stating, From 1941-45, 291,557 American soldiers, sailors, airmen,
and Marines died to defeat an enemy that had absolutely no means of attacking the
United States mainland. And now, we are being told that after more than 10 years of
fighting those ruthless bastard in Iraq and Afghanistan where only 6,802 of our warriors
have been killed, America doesnt have the stomach to go do what needs to be done?
(Gatlin 3). In this quotation, the audience can see a direct connection that Gatlin is trying
to form between WWII, the past few years, and the issues today. Gatlins use of historical
analogies messes with the readers emotions, trying to get his audience to agree that it is
time to go to war.
In conclusion, we feel as if Gatlins article was a one man attempt at turning the
tides of history. Throughout the use of sarcasm, slippery slope, and historical analogies in
his open letter to President Obama, Gatlin attempted to win the highly charged emotional

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support of the nation. If Gatlin had used better language, and avoided using so many
fallacies, his letter to the President may have been taken more seriously by the public.

Works Cited
Gatlin, Larry. "An Open Letter to Barack Obama: World War III Is Here." Fox News.
FOX News Network, 03 Sept. 2014. Web. 1 Oct. 2014.
Obama, Barack. "Excerpt from Remarks As Prepared for Delivery by President Barack
Obama to the United Nations General Assembly." United Nations General
Assembly. 24 Sept. 2014. Fox Nation. Web. 08 Oct. 2014.
Salzman, Marian. "Did Obama Or Your Boss Overstay Summer Vacation?"Forbes.
Forbes Magazine, 28 Aug. 2014. Web. 08 Oct. 2014.
Wood, Nancy. Essentials of Argument. Upper Saddle River: Pearson / Prentice Hall,
2006. Print.