Analysing Barack Obama's second term victory speech

Analysing Barack Obama’s second term victory speech

Obama’s main aim throughout his second term victory speech is to maintain the power and popularity that he obtained when he won his first election. Who Obama is speaking to is an important factor in the way that he addresses the audience. The millions of Americans that heard this speech might have supported from the very beginning or have only just become involved in politics so it was important that he catered for everyone in order to gain the peoples’ respect for him or preserve the respect that people already ha0d for him. Obama does this in a variety of ways.

Firstly, Obama creates a sense if community within his speech and there is a clear use of a lexical field of family throughout. Since he does not know each individual that he is speaking to, Obama tries to speak to them as his family and friends. For example, his use of inclusive pronouns throughout his speech such as, ‘you, the American people,’ allows him to involve the population and to help them to feel included in his victory and dream. In addition, his excessive use of synthetic personalisation enables him to address the audience as equals. For instance, ‘we have fought’ and ‘our road has been hard,’ give the impression that Obama and the American people have gone through their ‘journey’ together. Obama also uses synthetic personalisation to establish the common aims that both he and the American people share. For example, ‘we want our children to live in an America that isn’t burdened by debt, that isn’t weakened up by inequality, that isn’t threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet.’ The use of asyndetic listing here reminds the people that, despite him being the Head of State he is still an American who has the same aims and hopes for his children like anyone else.

Obama undoubtedly uses a lot of political jargon throughout his speech such as ‘election,’ ‘campaigns’ and ‘democracy.’ However, to balance this out, he brings a personal aspect to the speech which the audience can relate to. For example, there is, without a doubt, a strong emphasis on his family throughout the speech as well. He mentions his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Sasha and Malia. He is able to return the theme of sharing and family again by talking about Michelle and how she is ‘our nation’s first lady,’ not just his. By talking about his wife and ‘strong, smart, beautiful’ children he is able to remind people that he is not merely a political figure but also a common American with a family. It is also likely that Obama did not write all of his speech so by talking about his family he is adding a personal element to the speech that was probably written by members of his staff. Consequently, the audience feel less alienated from their President and can relate to him as a family man. 

Obama also recognises the power of flattery throughout his speech. He does this with the use of numerous linguistic techniques. For example, with the phrase, ‘we rise and fall together as one nation and as one people,’ which he uses at the beginning of his speech, he is able to set the theme or lexical field of community and family, that he uses throughout, as well as complimenting the audience. Here he uses repetition to enforce his point with the determiner ‘one.’ He also uses antithesis; he can emphasise America’s ability to deal with whatever comes their way by using contrasting verbs, ‘rise and fall,’ to illustrate opposing situations. He also continuously indicates his respect towards the people in order to demand their respect for him. He then emphasises his gratefulness for their support of the American election. In order to do this he uses anaphora by repeating the phrase, ‘I want to thank.’

Not only does he flatter the public but also the opposition: Governor Mitt Romney and his campaign. He first identifies Romney’s supporters - ‘whether you held an Obama sign or a Romney sign’– to ensure that they are accounted for and that they do not feel isolated or judged because they supported the opposing campaign. He then acknowledges Governor Romney and his ‘hard-fought campaign.’ This enables him to be viewed as a fair President who recognises other people’s efforts even if they oppose his own.

Another lexical field that Obama frequently uses is patriotism. With superlatives such as, ‘the strongest’ he reminds the public that America is a world superpower and this creates a sense of optimism. Patriotism is also used with Obama’s integration of the American Dream which is an ethos that has been part of the American society for hundreds of years. With his use of antithesis and asyndetic listing he reinforces the idea of equality and diversity in America which allows him to create a positive atmosphere amongst the public. By using this idea Obama gains respect from the public by reminding them who they are and by using this ideology the spectators are brought together as one audience and one people, making them proud to be American.