The Barack Obama Presidency: The Power of Words

It's no secret that the campaign of the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, was both historical and controversial. He is the 1st African-American president, he inspired the youth to show up at the polls in record numbers, he inspired the nation with his theme of "change". Most critics note that a major positive on his part was his ability to speak and well. The textbook refers to this ability as "orality". Orality can be described as "the power of the spoken word, the belief that all power is ultimately that of oral communication" (Brummett, 2011). Using his words, he was able to inspire a nation that some would consider down on patriotic pride. "Spoken word creates an immediate bond between speaker and listener" (Brummett, 2011). Many critics argued that he used his speech to overshadow the areas in which he lacked, but it is almost undeniable that he is an eloquent, persuasive and powerful speaker. As far as culturally, he used speech to bring together people from all different demographics. While both his opponents, John McCain and Mitt Romney had supporters who seemed to all be uniform in lifestyle (white, middle-aged, affluent, etc.), Obama had supporters who ranged in age, differed in race and came from various different socio-economic backgrounds. He tailored his speech and chose his words to apply to all different types of people and that made him stand out. His use of words possibly swayed a lot of people to vote in his direction in both his 1st campaign and his bid for re-election. He is the perfect example of how much power rhetoric has and how much of a difference it can make not only in the life of one man and his family, but to the world.

 Reference List

Brummett, B. (2011). Rhetoric in popular culture. (Third ed., p. 152). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE
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