BS Mechanical Engineering, 201802980 June 19, 2019
Speech Analysis: 2004 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address
In the year 2004, Barack Obama gave a keynote address for the Democratic Party in the United States of America. This speech was well received and greatly assisted him to be known and to become President in 2009. Due to this reason, this speech has become an object of study in the academics. I for one am a Speech 30 student, and I have been tasked to answer the question: “Why was this speech so effective?” To respond to this query, I shall give focus on the Five Canons of Rhetoric brought about by Cicero, as well as the rhetorical modes of persuasion formulated by Aristotle.
The first Canon is Invention. It deals with the content of his speech and its sources. In Obama’s speech, he mentions various people as sources of his information. He used their class, residence and situation to make credible his statements. He also utilized public memory, or facts and opinions passed from generation to generation, to be able to connect and relate to the audience such as the values that depict America, the actual experiences of people and an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence. He also has this theme wherein he keeps praising America as a great country and that there is unity between contradictory groups.
The second Canon is Arrangement. It is concerned with the form and organization of the speech. The introduction Obama did was focused on his personal life to show that he is just like the audience, leading to a connection to keep them listening. The body of his speech takes similar information into clusters and utilizes segways to transition from one cluster to another. These segways utilize similar things which are relevant between the two clusters and Obama does these segways almost seemlessly. He discusses his vision for America and why John Kerry should be president. He concluded by setting an optimistic prediction of the future and ended with a cliché powerful statement.
The third Canon is Style. It is about giving the final form of the content through filling the nooks and crannies between the words. Each person has their own unique style of delivering a speech. Obama’s speech is mostly formal yet figurative when it counts. It talks about numerous facts yet has those moments to create audience impact, exemplified by the loud applauses during the speech. He also utilized obscure words in the most part to be safe, but used concrete words as well, like Seamus to depict the situation of soldiers fighting in the Middle East. In addition to this he employed repetition and epistrophe numerous times to mark into the audience’s mind what he was saying such as “John Keller” and “United States of America”. He made use of adages as well. Also worth mentioning is his play of words with the “types” of America and the United States of America.
The fourth Canon is Memory. It involves mastering the speech to be able to deliver it in a natural manner. Obama rehearsed and familiarized himself with the speech before the actual keynote, hence he delivered it as if he was speaking from his mind. He didn’t really have to memorize the speech since there were teleprompters to help him. I also noticed that he intentionally put breaks in his speech to separate the clusters of ideas and most likely to help him remember his speech just enough so that he can still maintain eye contact with the audience more than with the teleprompter.
The fifth Canon is Delivery. It is the way the speaker actually performs the speech, putting into consideration things like voice projection and gestures. During his speech, Obama kept constant eye contact with the audience and made sure to look around, but I suspect that he glanced at the teleprompters at times, since they’re conveniently hidden from the camera and audience’s view. He also used hand gestures to express his ideas more effectively. His attire is the usual politician suit and tie, which is appropriate for the event. He was very articulate and had masterful pronunciation with his words. There were just very few slip-ups such as saying “dook” instead of “look” and some short awkward pauses. He emphasized key points by loudening his voice and increasing his words per minute plus emotion on his face. As I mentioned in the fourth canon, Memory, he made use of breaks to divide his speech into clusters of ideas. These clusters acted like dramatic acts of a play in the way he delivered. Furthermore, he rehearsed the keynote which enabled him to be more familiar with how he will perform, therefore less anxious, especially since this is his first time speaking on national television. Other things I noticed is his use of Latin to make a critical point, and that there were seldom times he moved too much, especially his head, to the point that it was distracting.
We now proceed to the three modes of persuasion in rhetoric. According to Dilder and Baseer (2011), Obama applied these modes into his speech. Ethos was depicted when he gave a short history of his family’s struggle, which implies his diligence and honesty. Pathos is seen whenever he references the melancholic situation of a person he supposedly met, creating an emotional image for the audience to see and feel. Logos is observable in the pairing of logical arguments with each other. This is mostly perceived during his repetition of words and phrases.
Aside from these two standards, I also have my personal reactions as an audience to Obama’s keynote address. The one very common and expected thing about his speech is that he stays on the side of America and the people. He chose to connect and relate more to the audience instead of raining down facts. Aside from this, he just went for what the people want to hear. In other words, whatever would put him and his co-party members in a good position. It’s just a very persuasive speech. If you think about it, it’s a bit selfish, but that’s just how politics work, or at least how it runs in most of today’s societies.
To sum it all up, Barack Obama’s speech harnessed various techniques from each of the Five Canons of Rhetoric and made use of Aristotle’s three modes of persuasion. This deadly combination of persuasion styles, plus his own unique one, are what made this speech effective. It’s the reason why this speech has made him popular among the masses. Notably because he gave more focus on the pathos. He focused on being one with the people, for the sake of democracy. Hopefully, this analysis will help you and me become better speakers. The key it would seem is to keep practicing to speak, just as Obama did. Just like he said, “If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.”
References: 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address. (n.d.). Retrieved June 18, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Democratic_National_Convention_keynote_ address Alvi, S., & Baseer, A. (2011). An Analysis of Barack Obama's Speech 'Keynote Address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Language in India, 11(10), 310-335. Retrieved from http://www.languageinindia.com/oct2011/sofiaobamaspeech.html Barack Obama Quotes. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved June 18, 2019, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/barack_obama_168698