In 2004 Barack Obama had yet to be elected to national public office. Rather, Obama

Transcription

1 Intrinsically Analyzing the Audacity of Hope By Clay Nordsiek In 2004 Barack Obama had yet to be elected to national public office. Rather, Obama remained a little-known Illinois Democratic Senate candidate from Chicago who was running for a seat recently vacated by a Republican. However, the evening Tuesday, July 27 of that year would change his life forever. Obama would leave the stage of the Boston Fleet Center to thunderous applause after delivering the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. This speech, remembered by many as the Audacity of Hope address, is considered by many political analysts to be the springboard moment of Obama s political career and the beginning of his successful run for the Presidency. An important question to ask is: what elements made this speech so memorable and powerful? An intense criticism of the text and its content is an excellent initial step to answering this question. I will be performing a close textual analysis of the speech. In doing so, I will be taking into account such elements as genre, form, and amplification, alongside such rhetorical tools as anaphora, antithesis, and metaphor in order to achieve a true understanding of the speech s deepest inner-workings. Digging to the bottom requires starting at the top and it is imperative to commence in a close textual analysis by understanding concepts such as genre and form. Obama had multiple tasks to accomplish at the 2004 DNC. First, he needed to celebrate the nominations of Senators John Kerry and John Edwards for President and Vice President. Second, he had to promote and sell this tandem to common American voters. Third, he needed to solidify his own Senatorial candidacy back in Illinois. These dual purposes led the speech to be comprised of the dual genres epideictic, which praises and celebrates, and deliberative, which seeks to convince. Obama Nordsiek 1

2 combines these possibly conflicting genres effectively through the form of the speech, and he even uses these competing genres to reinforce each other. Obama uses the introduction to draw an image of the ideal American dream at work through his own family s experiences, which simultaneously works to familiarize himself with the audience. His immediate admission that, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely provides the audience a figurative instrument of measurement for just how far the American dream can take someone. Then, Obama emphasizes his journey s length by supplying a literal marker of its great distance, Kenya (pg. 1, par. 3). Obama ensues to describe the process and means by how he arrived on the stage and in doing this he lists various core American values that any audience member will relate to. These include: hard work, perseverance, freedom, and opportunity (pg. 1, par. 4). In this introduction, word selection and syntax play a key role in helping his story be relatable. For example, while describing his mother s background, Obama chooses simple verbs, avoids any complex metaphors, and points actions that Americans have mythologized things like serving in WWII, buying a house, and seeking self-improvement. If anything, this particular relation comes off a bit jumbled like it really is an honest, momentary reflection on the past (pg. 1, par. 5). At one point, Obama does move the American dream to be considered a sacred thing by referencing the Declaration of Independence but he interjects the concept that while this dream is sacred, it is not perfect. Obama also asserts that it is the responsibility of all to continue improving it. He accomplishes this through the usage of the anaphora more to do coinciding with specific examples of hardships, all of which are from Illinois (pg. 2, par. 2). This is significant for two key reasons. First, it reminds the audience of his own state that he understands their troubles and Nordsiek 2

3 wants to help, and second, it sets the stage for him to describe imperfections at the national level which John Kerry could fix. For the body of the text, Obama gives the common problem-solution structure a unique twist into a solution-problem format. Take for example this line: John Kerry believes in energy independence, so we aren t held hostage to the profits of oil companies, or the sabotage of foreign oil fields. (pg. 3, par. 1) In this line, Obama lists the solution of energy independence prior to stating the problems of being held hostage and sabotage, but the key words here are the first three. The phrase John Kerry believes appears in various forms as an anaphora eight times throughout the text in a very similar fashion. Obama uses this repetition in conjunction with this structure in order to achieve multiple goals. By stating John Kerry believes first each time, Obama is able to deem Kerry as both the source and leader of the solutions. Next, he is able to create a continuous, stark contrast between Kerry and any opponent in which Kerry is automatically the answer to the opponent s problem. Third, Obama is able to celebrate Kerry s candidacy to the strongly Democratic inhouse audience by making him an exemplar of some of the Party s most cherished ideals. Finally, he repeatedly aligns Kerry with highly popular ideas that all can agree to such as, Constitutional freedoms or just simply America (pg. 3, pars. 2, 9). In doing this, Obama turns the praise of Kerry s excellence as a candidate to those devout Democrats in attendance into the main selling point to the common voter as well. Therefore, Obama s usage of the anaphora John Kerry believes in combination with his solution-problem format aids in his accomplishment of both epideictic and deliberative genre goals, because he is using the same evidence to for each purpose. In this manner, each genre reinforces the other, as the audience cannot consider one without realizing the other. Nordsiek 3

4 After establishing Kerry as the unquestioned leader and solution for ideal change in the body of the text, Obama must move this ideal into action. He begins this process with a powerful antithesis question, Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or do we participate in a politics of hope? (pg. 4, par. 3). Here, Obama again creates a stark contrast between Kerry s idyllic leadership and any competitor s flaws through the associations of hope s positive connotation and cynicism s negative connotation, respectively. Also, this antithesis signals a switch in the format of solution-problem back to the more common problem-solution structure. This subtle crossover allows Obama to build up to and finish on a climactic, positive note, rather than listing out the negative, as he was doing in the body. For example, in one of the following paragraphs, Obama now lists problems such as blind optimism, willful ignorance, unemployment, and health care crisis, all before using a string of isocolons in conjunction with the anaphora hope to amplify a resounding solution that Kerry and Edwards offer to the American people (pg. 4, par. 5). This anaphora of hope is critically important to the conclusion for Obama, because he uses this term to not only serve as a value for people to hold to in the moment but also as a goal for people to strive toward. This creation of a hypothetical, better world under the leadership of Kerry provides Obama a certain direction in which to call the audience into action, which he does so in dramatic rhetorical fashion in the final paragraph. Here, Obama again ties together a run of isocolons, anaphoras, and general repetitions like if you feel, do, and will be sworn in, which greatly amplify his message by providing a precision, clarity, vibrancy, and legitimacy to his cause. Obama is laying the path of action before his audience s feet and then, at the end, offering redemption to all with the words, and out of this long political darkness a brighter day Nordsiek 4

5 will come. This final line has both the ability to raise the passion for Obama s call to religious fervor and to portrait Kerry as a demi-god for Democratic political beliefs. Obama further enhances the effectiveness of the conclusion by balancing the image of the future against the action of the moment through word choice. Obama uses the hypothetical hope twelve times while moving toward the final call for action, in which he switches to the usage of concrete verbs of do and will be exactly eleven times. By providing this stability of the need of both vision and action, Obama lends prominence to the idea that one cannot be achieved without the other, which further encourages all audience members to maintain their audacity of hope and also to rise up in November (pg. 4, par. 11). Throughout the introduction, body, and conclusion, Obama constantly reiterates multiple smaller themes alongside his main purpose of promoting Kerry as well. Two examples of such themes occur in the consecutive isocolon phrases: They would give me an African name, Barack, or blessed, believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success. They imagined me going to the best schools in the land, even though they weren t rich, because in a generous America you don t have to be rich to achieve your potential. (pg. 1, par. 6) In this introduction of minor themes, Obama utilizes multiple rhetorical techniques. In each phrase, he makes an appeal to the pathos of the audience by invoking two desirable traits in any American, tolerance and generosity. Obama is able to identify with the audience in numerous ways. First, he is able to connect with anyone who had to overcome an obstacle that should not be, such as a name, race, weight, appearance, and etc. Second, Obama makes himself a symbol of success for anyone poor or struggling by reminding the audience of his humble beginnings. Next, he aligns himself with any audience member that has ever received help to get where they are, currently needs help, or has given help and watched someone succeed through his invocation of generosity. Finally, Obama Nordsiek 5

6 hints at his belief in the importance of good education for all by selecting going to best schools in the land as the way of emphasizing how he received help. Basically, in this passage Obama both further augments his overall vision of the American dream and makes available to himself several means by which he can interconnect the entirety of the speech. Obama returns to these themes via new examples throughout the body and conclusion of the speech as well, often keeping them tied together. For example, as Obama moves toward the body of the speech, he speaks of a woman from East St. Louis that has the grades, has the drive, has the will, but doesn t have the money to go to college (pg. 2, par. 2). In this story, Obama masterfully creates a similar situation to what he may have faced, stresses the need for education and reiterates the significance of generosity in order for her to get an opportunity. Also in the body of this text is Obama s only other use of a specific name other than his own, Kerry s, or Edward s. This name is Shamus, which by any standard is not a common name. Obama continues to describe Shamus, an enlisted Marine, as all that any of us might ever hope for in a child (pg. 3, par. 4). Undoubtedly, Obama crafts this linkage of an uncommon name to a description of success to once again reemphasize the concept of tolerance and overcoming barriers. With this reference, however, Obama likely means to gain national acceptance for and disprove any uncertainties regarding his own uncommon name through this association, since Shamus is fulfilling a deep American value of serving his country. Obama intertwines these themes again in the conclusion through two specific lines. First, Obama lands one of his strongest lines of the speech with, the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too (pg. 4, par. 5). With this, Obama directly states two barriers to success he personally had to overcome. Also, he draws the final conclusion that America truly can be tolerant, because he has found his place just by being on Nordsiek 6

7 that stage. Second, Obama claims that, we can reclaim young people in cities from across America from violence and despair (pg. 4, par. 9). This line could be easily re-written in terms of the story of the young woman. For example, young woman could easily replace the term young people. East St. Louis remains a city notorious for its violence and poverty, and she could fall into this state unless we reclaim her through our generosity. The significance of Obama s ability to maintain and reiterate themes such as these cannot be overlooked in the analysis of the effectiveness of this text because they are vast in number. Each time Obama echoing of a theme affords him one more opportunity to ingrain his message further into the audiences minds. Recurring themes, however, can also aid in making a speech seem compact, precise, and on track rather than disorganized or vague. Finally, interwoven themes, and the rhetorical tools used to present them such as, isocolon, identification, and pathos amongst others, are able to force an audience to think critically about a text both throughout the time at which they are hearing/reading it and afterwards until a clear understanding is reached. In conclusion, reaching a clear understanding of any text can be difficult to do if not carefully examined, hence the need for an intrinsic analysis such as the one which has been performed here via the method of close textual analysis. This process is important to perform because without a solid comprehension of what the author s message is, their means of conveying it, and why the author is sending that particular message (or why it is or is not effective) can be extremely difficult. For example, Barack Obama s 2004 DNC speech could be deemed a failure in terms of its overall effectiveness since Kerry and Edwards would go on to lose the election. Obama, on the other hand, has since quickly risen to national and global prominence as the President himself. Nordsiek 7

8 With this knowledge and having closely read the text, I would conclude that while all of the speech is eloquent and well designed, Obama s ingratiation of his own story into the text is more powerful than his arguments for the Kerry campaign. Therefore, the rhetorical tools he uses in order to promote Kerry, such as the solution-problem form, and construction/ redemption of the American dream serve more to promote his own knowledge of the issues at hand, his goals for the future, and his vision for achieving them. And apparently, a lot of the audience took this message away as well, because he has only won two landslide elections. Nordsiek 8