...President Obama’s performance with concern to the nation’s economy. While assessing Obama’s performance in the arena of economic policy, I account for the president’s policy aimed at the citizen, the nation as a whole, and the promotion of international commerce. Each topic is assigned a point value between zero and one, based on two factors—first, for the egalitarian nature of the president’s initial stance on the topic and, second, for the efficacy of his enacted or proposed policies regarding that topic. Obama’s chief success in the economic domain is that of job creation, which has been on a steady incline since the recession. Though the president cannot be held entirely...
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...networking sites, the main campaign website MyBarackObama.com, e-mails, text messages, etc. to receive donations. Last but not least, they were able to fully take advantage of the traffic flow to sites such as YouTube and Google to advertise their campaign. Facebook, known as one of the most dominate social networking sites of today’s society with nearly 600 million users. According to ‘Me Media’ by Cassidy(2006,pp.50–59) In 2006 “ Facebook was used at over 2,000 United States colleges and was the seventh most popular site on the World Wide Web with respect to total page views”. It was no coincidence that one Obama’s leading strategist was the Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes, whom at the time was 24 years old. The campaign spent approximately 467,000 dollars on Facebook advertisements targeted at the younger demographics between 18-29 years. There were more than 100 Facebook groups created in support of Obama's candidacy, close to 5 million likes and over 3 million friends. One of the major groups was...
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...Rankine reveals how it feels to be the person who is criminalized by the unfair practice of the Stop-and-Frisk law when she tells the story of a black male being arrested without probable cause. The story is told through the black male’s point of view, written in first person. When the police officer pulls the man over and immediately treats him like a criminal, we experience confusion and anger towards the officer, as if we were the man being arrested. The man knows he will be pulled over before it actually happens because he “fits the description” (105) of who the police should stop-and-frisk. The idea that this man is not a criminal yet he fits the “description” is very frustrating for the man that it drives him insane. Although the man did not break any laws, he is charged with speeding anyway. This situation is an example of how the Stop-and-Frisk Law allows police officers to racially profile citizens which can lead to their criminalization and can affect the way black citizens view law...
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...brand-- the newest toy that Americans must have. Obama’s methods of political campaigning marked this evolution. With a new generation of voters, Obama marketed himself as if he was a product being promoted by his corporation. Before Obama, candidates logos were similar in their conventional red and blue traditional imagery. The Obama logo was carefully created as a tool that would be used to successfully market Obama. This logo was created to symbolize Obama in a single image. Through this image...
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...This political cartoon was created by a political cartoonist named John Darkow. It was made on the date of December 2nd, 2007. He drew it for the Columbia Daily Tribune. The reason for its creation was to reveal how much Oprah was involved with Obama’s election. The bias in this political cartoon is definitely leaning more to a conservative side and is shedding negativity onto Obama’s political campaign. The way that Obama and Oprah are standing together, raising their holding hands, suggests that it is more of their campaign rather than his campaign. I believe the two elderly ladies making the commentary were created to be elderly on purpose because it gives the humor a more innocent and lighthearted view yet at the same time, it reveals the point of the picture. The most noticeable piece of the cartoon is Oprah’s name in huge letters over Obama’s name. This makes it seem as if they really were running a campaign together. Our media has changed over time by going from anonymous published political essays such as The Federalist Papers, to multiple sources of constant coverage such as the Internet and television. During the time of the Federalist Papers, people had to wait weeks to discover what was happening in politics. Today, we almost don’t have to wait any time at all to know just what’s going on not just in politics but, on any publicized topics. This has affected political communication by giving us the resources to find out so much more about our politicians. This...
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...More specifically, after reading this article, one can consider Obama’s management style as more of a consultative management style with a slight autocratic element. The reader can detect this through the fact that though Obama sought out the advice of high-ranking, experienced military personnel, including Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, Army General David H. Petraeus, and Army General Stanley A. McChrystal, all of whom argued passionately for the movement of a higher number of troops to Afghanistan, he still ultimately did not comply with their expert advice. While he did listen to what these people, who have had direct military knowledge and were speaking from experience, had suggested, he still chose to go against their guidance and not authorize the 40,000 additional troops they had deemed necessary, only agreeing...
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...their control to the effects of that power with “that day is here” (A.3) His explanations, and the actual events even led up to this perfect tipping point that he uses to leave his readers asking questions. Krauthammer transitioned from the economic policies of former presidents to those of Trump with “until now” (A.2). Krauthammer uses this transition almost mockingly as if to say ‘Trump, who are you to do something different?’ Krauthammer concludes a piece criticizing Obama’s final acts in office, describing them “as his real self,” and how the American public will “see much more of it” now that Obama nears the end of his second term (A.1). Krauthammer’s critical conclusion ensures that his readers leave with the same thoughts regarding Obama’s administration as he. Again, Krauthammer criticizes Trump’s new policy of isolationism: “Global leadership is what made America great. We abandon it at our own peril” (A.2). Krauthammer consistently established his criticisms of Trump by comparing his policies to the successful ones of the past. Impactful transitions and powerful conclusions give Krauthammer’s writing a certain heaviness and intensity. Krauthammer’s use of rhetorical questions draw his readers in and lead them to the only reasonable conclusion possible, given the evidence provided. Krauthammer asks “why” in regard to Obama’s final acts in office, then he follows up and answers his own question with another question: “To curry favor with the international left?” (A.1). Krauthammer...
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...BARACK OBAMA'S SOUTH CAROLINA SPEECH Introduction In this paper, I shall analyze US Presidential hopeful Barack Obama's South Carolina victory speech from a particular pragmatic perspective. In particular, I shall explore the idea that this speech is constituted by many voices (in other words, it displays polyphony, to use an idea due to Bakhtin 1981, 1986) and that the audience is part of this speech event, adding and contributing to its text in a collaborative way (in particular, in constructing meaning). As many are aware (including the journalists who report day by day on Barack Obama's achievements), Obama uses the technique of 'personification' (The Economist, Dec 13th, 2007). When he voices an idea, he does not just expose it as if it came from himself, but gets another person (fictitious or, plausibly, real) to voice it. Since in an electoral speech, he cannot reasonably get people on stage to voice his ideas, he personifies ideas by narrating what people told him. His stories are his way of personifying his ideas. The discourse strategy he uses serves to reverse the direction of influence from the people in control to the people controlled (see van Dijk 2003). Duranti (2006b) writes that The language of politics has been presented and studied in terms of its ability to persuade an audience (of peers, subjects, and superiors) to go along with the speaker's view of the world and his or her proposal (Perrot 2000). In much of this literature, the successful political...
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...Cammie Denton Dr. Foster WR 122 April 17, 2016 Rhetorical Analysis of Barack Obama’s Remarks on Economic Mobility On December 4th, 2013 Barack Obama spoke on the subject of income inequality and upward mobility. This speech was delivered to, and hosted by, the Center for American Progress (CAP). The president uses striking language to appeal to the emotion and logic of the audience. Obama executes his appeals in a variety of ways with the express purpose of painting the issue of growing inequality and decreased upward mobility as the “defining challenge of our time.” President Obama describes these issues as what drives everything he does as POTUS. Obama’s speech was quite intellectual and technical, peppered in detail with the numbers and statistics of current social and economic inequalities, appealing to logos. While he builds his argument based on these substantial facts, the overall feeling of his language is that of compassion. This compassion seems to drive his purpose and thus emotionally connecting to his audience. Further, Obama appeals to ethos during his speech as he outlines how current market-caused inequalities are threatening everything that makes America great. Obama masterfully balances his passionate language with solid facts and straight-forward logic in this effectively persuasive speech. Before expanding upon the specifics of the rhetorical methods utilized by the president in this speech, I think it is important to highlight that the audience (CAP)...
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...POLSCI 200 Why Can’t the Government Pass the New Immigration Reform? Our nation is currently faced with many problems and the one that still seems to stand out is an immigration reform. Many of those who reside in the U.S may not see it as a big issue, but in reality it really is. Even though many presidents including Obama tried to adopt the immigration reform, the policy has been murky since Naturalization Act of 1790. The federal government developed a cohesive procedure for naturalization. Immigrants at that time were granted citizenship after living in the U.S. for at least 2 years without criminal records. Every President since Dwight D. Eisenhower has taken executive action at some point regarding to immigration reform. With the last immigration reform act passed in 1986, the time to fix a broken immigration system is long overdue. Since the United States has been highly populated with diverse population including documented or undocumented immigrants, the government could have considered adopting the immigration reform specifically and permanently. Apparently, there are some reasons that take many years to process an immigration reform in Congress such as polarization in Congress, Federalism, courts’ decision, media impaction, and interest groups. It is hard to believe that why the government is not fully paying enough attention to immigration reform bill that is one of the most important not only for country itself but also for its economy. Now, we have estimated...
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...Øregård Gymnasium Engelsk 1.s ------------------------------------------------- William Rode Bager (RL) Reclaiming the American Dream In 2007, Barack Obama announced his desire to become President of the United States. He succeeded in 2008, and was elected as the American President. However, the path to become the president was not easy. In one of his speeches, namely the one he held in Iowa in November 2007, he deals with the American dream, and how he believes that The United States can reclaim ‘The American Dream’. In this historical period (2007), the necessity of a new leadership was necessary. The reason for this was the Great Unemployment during the Great Recession. In economics, this means a general reduction in economic activity. Consequently, Banks began to collapse and there was no insurance deposit, as bank failure was considered quite common. This started to worry the depositors that they might have a chance of losing all their investments. Therefore, they started to extract money and chanced it into currency. This forced banks to pay off assets - such as call in loans rather than create new loans. In banking and finance, it meant liquidate. All this, creates a recession, which reduces the employment and productivity. This drove the American population to the conviction, that the only way to avoid The Great Recession was new political leadership. My main focus of this paper concerns the devices in rhetoric that appeals to an audience. These are...
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...Obama Timeline: The most powerful person in the world -Barack Hussein Obama, was born on August 4, 1961 in Hawaii -His parents divorced when he was 2 yrs old and after that in 1967 he moved to Jakarta, Indonesia to live with his mother -1971: when he returned to Honolulu to live with his grandparents and attended Punahou school, a private preparatory school. He was one of few black students in school and his classmate regarded him as “the black kid from Indonesia” -1975: while in high school, Obama joined the basketball team and became a leader in class. (I think he started leading people very young) However, during his teenage years, he described his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage lead him to use alcohol, marijuana and cocaine. (At the 2008 Civil Forum on the Presidency, Obama identified his high-school drug use as a great moral failure) -1979: Obama attended Occidental College and here he made his 1st public speech, calling for Occidental’s disinvestment from South Africa due to its policy of apartheid (mid-1981). - He graduated Bachelor of Arts with the major in political science in Columbia University in 1983. -He worked as director of the Developing Communities Project (a church-based community organization). He helped set up training program, a college preparatory tutoring program. -Entering Harvard Law School in 1988 and becoming an editor and also a first black president of the Harvard Law review. ...
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...in regards to our history with racism and inequality, I only have to speak to my relatives to understand we have a long way to go until Americans see individuals for their accomplishments rather than their race. In President Obama’s inaugural address he made a hint to the end of a racial era. “…because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds...
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...Grunwald goes into great detail of Obama before presidency and during presidency. I believe that this book is somewhat uninteresting, but very informative and it would be great for someone interested in Obama’s acts as the president. The book was published in 2012 in New York, NY by Simon & Schuster, Inc. Michael Grunwald, the author, presents many facts throughout the book and he also expresses his opinions on certain things. “The New New Deal” shows how Obama’s acts and plans as president were a success. The author in the beginning of the book...
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...A More Perfect Union Barack Obama’s speech, “A More Perfect Union” (2008), explains that all people should come together as a whole rather than focusing on small things like race, religious views, and gender. He backs this claim up by stating that if everyone were to come together, we can all move past some of the old racial words that have been shouted and occurred in the past and become a stronger union. Obama’s purpose is to use the concept of “a more perfect union” as the prime focus for the American people and to not choose to ignore the conflicts of racism that is still occurring. The main audience that Obama is addressing his speech to are the American people. One of the main points that Obama talks about is race. He conveys...
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