Barack Obama's speech analysis | Appunti di Lingua Inglese

Barack Obama’s speech “A More Perfect Union”

Barack Obama's political language has been at the centre of research and analysis

not only when he was already president but also before. In fact, this speech is one of

those given before his election. At that time, he was a senator of the state of Illinois

and was an original candidate who presented some novelties also due to his

ethnicity. He was the first to make massive use of social media, which with him

made their debut in the field of political campaigning.

Obama has created winning semiotics on himself, trying to enhance his identity

features that seemed to be obstacles to his success. Analysing his speeches, we are

faced with twine that relates the level of political language, the level of identity, and

the level of the balance of power. This twine forms a complex scenario of both

Obama himself and contemporary US society.

The analysis starts with two considerations:

-The first is that Obama himself with his personal experience, full of ethnic, cultural,

and historical contaminations, is a model of contemporary multiculturalism

-The second is that his themes, language, and communication strategy are based on

metaphorical-conceptual frames and refer to the idea of diversity and change, two

keywords in Obama's speech.

This speech was given on March 18, 2008, in Philadelphia and takes its title from the

Declaration of Independence of the United States, which is mentioned several times

through the speech.

Obama, since his debut, faced an ideological resistance on the ground of identity,

therefore based on a system of beliefs and prejudices, which intended to stigmatize

the figure of the future president as a "misfit" that cannot occupy a high position.

This is because not only is he a black American, but he is also the son of a third-

world immigrant who grew up in a society that considers him as a "foreign" not

belonging to the community he intends to represent. All this would make him

inconsistent with the figure of the representative of a nation that has always proved

to be very conservative about being "fit for the position" and that until the election

of Obama himself had never given up the tradition of being governed by a WASP

(White Anglo-Saxon Protestant). So, Obama had to oppose this stereotypical

narrative using an original and alternative language and style. This communicative

style achieves through the strategic use of both traditional media and new media

and social media.

The use of social media produced three effects:

- It demonstrated the ability that the new media have to influence public opinion

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Barack Obama’s speech “A More Perfect Union”

Barack Obama's political language has been at the centre of research and analysis not only when he was already president but also before. In fact, this speech is one of those given before his election. At that time, he was a senator of the state of Illinois and was an original candidate who presented some novelties also due to his ethnicity. He was the first to make massive use of social media, which with him made their debut in the field of political campaigning. Obama has created winning semiotics on himself, trying to enhance his identity features that seemed to be obstacles to his success. Analysing his speeches, we are faced with twine that relates the level of political language, the level of identity, and the level of the balance of power. This twine forms a complex scenario of both Obama himself and contemporary US society. The analysis starts with two considerations: -The first is that Obama himself with his personal experience, full of ethnic, cultural, and historical contaminations, is a model of contemporary multiculturalism -The second is that his themes, language, and communication strategy are based on metaphorical-conceptual frames and refer to the idea of diversity and change , two keywords in Obama's speech. This speech was given on March 18, 2008, in Philadelphia and takes its title from the Declaration of Independence of the United States, which is mentioned several times through the speech. Obama, since his debut, faced an ideological resistance on the ground of identity, therefore based on a system of beliefs and prejudices, which intended to stigmatize the figure of the future president as a "misfit" that cannot occupy a high position. This is because not only is he a black American, but he is also the son of a third- world immigrant who grew up in a society that considers him as a "foreign" not belonging to the community he intends to represent. All this would make him inconsistent with the figure of the representative of a nation that has always proved to be very conservative about being "fit for the position" and that until the election of Obama himself had never given up the tradition of being governed by a WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant). So, Obama had to oppose this stereotypical narrative using an original and alternative language and style. This communicative style achieves through the strategic use of both traditional media and new media and social media. The use of social media produced three effects:

It demonstrated the ability that the new media have to influence public opinion

It has generated a sort of very extensive "fan base" that has not remained confined within the virtual context but has turned into a huge electoral committee in reality
It has amplified the penetration of Obama's message. Obama's message aimed first at the racial and ethnic question and correlated with that of the harmonious coexistence of the different groups that populate the United States. In this speech, a sophisticated rhetorical strategy is used that aims at two persuasive effects:
Reply to those who try to associate Obama's position with the extreme position of a certain political militancy
Re-launch the key themes of its political project: universalism, solidarity, sustainability. This speech was inspired by some statements that put him in trouble in 2008 when videos of his pastor - Reverend Jeremiah Wright of Trinity Church, where Obama was a member- were widely circulated. Wright was shown on national television in March 2008, expressing extreme views related to race in America. Obama's strategy was unpredictable: he decided to emphasize and, at the same time, analyze his relationship with Wright, which appeared very controversial to the public eye. Therefore, Obama's speech starts from this contingent fact and then moves strategically towards a wider political scope. Discourse analysis Enunciative structure : in the enunciative structure, we find an interpolation of two opposite modalities:
Subjective mode: Obama speaks directly with the recipient of the message, therefore the audience present at the speech and all those who have had access to the speech through the web and the mass media.
Objectifying mode: Obama does not speak directly to the public but tries to put himself on a higher level to be as objective as possible. Place of speech : symbolic location, close to the Independence Hall in Philadelphia. It suggests authority and conveys a reassuring image. Audience : spectators are only a few hundred by invitation, including many religious leaders who had been critical of Reverend Wright. There is the will to produce a double effect:
That of reproducing a situation that seems an event, a historic day
That of reproducing a familiar and reassuring situation

real their Declaration of Independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.” “The document they produced was eventually signed, but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery,”

The speech goes on to tell how the Declaration of Independence was a first attempt to launch the improbable experiment of democracy in America. Obama defines it as "improbable" because the attempt to immediately create a perfect union between all social and ethnic varieties failed because the attempt was not carried out and was "stained" by the original sin of slavery that continued to divide Americans.
This first part has a tone and a style that recalls those of the classic speech of American politics, almost to Abraham Lincoln. So, a tone and a style that sound familiar to the public's ear and collective imagination.
The reference to the "original sin" is not accidental: the tone is emphasized and the historical quotation evolves, creating a narrative hanging between the evocation of past scenarios and biblical phrasing.
Use of deictics: they allow references to the time and space of the discourse. Reference is made to the room where the Declaration of Independence was written, described as a familiar place, a room which is still across the street. Deictics allow to build a bond of familiarity with these symbolic places for the United States and remove the suspicion that Obama is not emotionally linked to them. 5° paragraph – 1 page: “This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this presidential campaign: to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring, and more prosperous America. I chose to run for President at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together, unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction: towards a better future for our children and our grandchildren. And this belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own story.”
Here Obama reveals the core of his political project that is to continue the march of those who fought to be more equal and free. Here we find the meaning of his

candidacy: he chooses to run for the presidency because he deeply believes that the challenges of our time cannot be solved unless they are solved together. He appeals to the union, to the community, recalling the theme of "More Perfect Union".

The passage from "I" to "We": appeal to unity. It is a message of interraciality, of multiculturalism. He wants to raise awareness that individual responsibility is not divided from collective responsibility. 3° paragraph – 7 page: “It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams, that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.”
America should understand that the dreams of a whole nation cannot be realized at the expense of the African American community and that therefore investing in the health, well-being, and education of every race is a way to help all of America. 4° paragraph – 7 page: “In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more and nothing less than what all the world's great religions demand: that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.”
Biblical reference: it turns to the holy book to more clearly define the figure of the speaker as the authoritative and legitimate bearer of a message of exhortation to overcome racial barriers. 4° par. 6 page – 1° par. 7 page: “This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years.(…) But I have asserted a firm conviction, a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people, that, working together, we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds and that, in fact, we have no choice -- we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.” “For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past.”

“That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time."”

Citing important events for the collective imagination of Americans, such as the O.J. Simpson, or the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, appeals to abandon the old patterns of receiving political scandal. He says there is a choice citizens can make: either accept a divisive policy that fuels conflict and cynicism or come together in this "more perfect union" and say "not this time" and do something different.
Obama proposes himself as a perfect representative of an identity divided by historical, cultural, religious, ethnic factors, and in this moment, he is in the privileged position of a bridge between these different cultures precisely because of his personal history. He thus creates a sort of new multicultural grammar, where not even the total repudiation of Reverend Wright finds space because, in a nation marked by racial differences, anger is an inevitable consequence.

Barack Obama's speech analysis, Appunti di Lingua Inglese

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Barack Obama’s speech “A More Perfect Union”