Blog #2

In Obama’s speech, a wise rhetorical strategy that he used was using arguments based on emotion, or so-called pathos. He helped convince his audience of what he was trying to say by relating to He shared a story, using the time that he ran against Alan Keyes for US senate in 2004. It connected him with the audience and it also allowed him to smoothly begin his speech on faith in America. He used that personal experience and the emotion behind it to build bridges between him and the audience.

While in the midst of his speech, Obama established his credibility (an argument based on character: Ethos) by using statistics and polls of people with faith in America stating, “…90 percent of us believe in God, 70 percent affiliate themselves with an organized religion, 38 percent call themselves committed Christians…”. That showed that he had done his research and knew the facts surrounding religion in the country. Although these aren’t hard facts, it showed that he had looked into the background of his argument. This would have established trust in his speech. Also, the language he used in his speech showed that he was a very competent man when it came to education.

Obama also used a letter written by a doctor who was very religious, but was also in agreement with most of Obama’s ideals. This letter was a testimony that faith and politics could mesh, it was a very convincing argument based on facts and reason (logos). By reading this letter it also showed the audience that he listens to his supporters.

All in all the speech was very well done with many hidden arguments that without evaluating, one would never come across.