The article “Why It Worked: A Rhetorical Analysis of Obama’s Speech on Race” touches upon Barack Obama’s March 18 speech on race, focusing on the rhetorical strategies employed by the former president. The author emphasizes that the speech is more powerful in its audio format rather than in the script. “When received in the ear, these effects breeze through us like a harmonious song. When inspected with the eye, these moves become more apparent, like reading a piece of sheet music” – the language of political discourse requires an effort to analyze it (Clark 108). Overall, Clark distinguishes four strategies used by Obama in his speech.
Power of allusion, the author’s most emphasized strategy, is quite common in the political discourse and used extensively by different politicians. Parallel constructions are not used much, but Obama has indeed brought up plenty of parallels. Duality, which is also a common strategy in the American political landscape, is probably the best example of why this speech resonated. “Political correctness or reverse racism,” “civil war and civil disobedience” are among the brightest examples of clever employment of duality in the discourse (Clark 111). Lastly, personal experience is becoming one of the most mainstream tendencies in the recent political discourse. Framing the career as a struggle and eventual triumph prevails throughout the speech and creates a reverberance when employed together with other strategies.
Clark concludes that this speech became one of the greatest examples of American political discourse. Essentially, it became one of the deepest and most thoughtful Obama speeches during his presidency, but the common tendencies employed by the former president should not mislead in evaluating it.
Work Cited
Clark, Roy Peter. “Why It Worked: A Rhetorical Analysis of Obama’s Speech on Race.” The Norton Field guide to writing: With readings and handbook., Bullock, Richard Harvey, Maureen Daly Goggin, and Francine Weinberg, WW Norton, 2020, pp. 107-113.