Critical Commentary on Obamas Victory Speech

976 Words4 Pages
Critical Commentary This piece is Barack Obama’s victory speech in Chicago, after winning the recent presidential elections. President Obama begins the speech with the word ‘tonight’, bringing his audience to reflect on what had just happened at that present time. The president uses positive phrases such as ‘won the right’, ‘perfecting’ and ‘moves forward’. This creates positive energy and in this context, provokes patriotism. The use of the word ‘forward’ also shows that Obama is prepared and is looking toward the future. The word ‘you’ is repeated throughout the speech. This naturally involves the audience on a personal level. President Obama also compliments the audience, “it moves forward because of you...” This is a very emotive statement, and again, as well as complimenting his audience, he is also engaging feelings of patriotism. This is a tactic which is used right through the text. The president also reflects on previous negative situations in America and compares it to more recent positive times. “...triumphed over war and depression.” And uses similes to paint a picture in the audiences mind of the extent of their journey. “from the depths of despair to the great heights of hope.” These statements reassure the audience and give them confidence that they can overcome these situations. Again Obama uses emotive language to appeal to patriotism. “an American family” and “we rise and fall together” Family is a very strong and poignant description which Obama is using to paint the image of one unit. The president mentions ‘America’ throughout the text. As this is a victory speech, the word America is a power word, and strongly emits feelings of patriotism and pride. In the third paragraph, president Obama repeats the word ‘tonight’, bringing the audience back to the present victory. Obama uses long sentences to keep the audience engaged. He

More about Critical Commentary on Obamas Victory Speech

Open Document