Individual Presentation or Panel Title
Abstract
This paper analyzes President Obama’s rhetoric in his two inaugural addresses in order to determine how his presidential rhetoric conforms to and violates current rhetorical traditions in inaugural addresses. For this paper a rhetorical analysis of Obama’s addresses was performed using a form of genre criticism. The components for this genre criticism were drawn from Vanessa B. Beasley’s work on presidential rhetoric in her book You, the People: American National Identity in Presidential Rhetoric. Anticipated results of this analysis will show that President Obama’s presidential rhetoric is more secular than previous presidents. The results will also illustrate that President Obama’s rhetoric is different in that he addresses immigration and racial issues from a perspective that has never been possible for previous presidents.
Location
Ballator Gallery
Start Date
20-4-2013 3:30 PM
End Date
20-4-2013 4:20 PM
Full Text of Presentation
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A Style of His Own: A Rhetorical Analysis of Barack Obama
Ballator Gallery
This paper analyzes President Obama’s rhetoric in his two inaugural addresses in order to determine how his presidential rhetoric conforms to and violates current rhetorical traditions in inaugural addresses. For this paper a rhetorical analysis of Obama’s addresses was performed using a form of genre criticism. The components for this genre criticism were drawn from Vanessa B. Beasley’s work on presidential rhetoric in her book You, the People: American National Identity in Presidential Rhetoric. Anticipated results of this analysis will show that President Obama’s presidential rhetoric is more secular than previous presidents. The results will also illustrate that President Obama’s rhetoric is different in that he addresses immigration and racial issues from a perspective that has never been possible for previous presidents.