President Barack Obama's State of the Union Speech

On January 24, 2012, President Barack Obama gave his annual State of the Union speech which summarized the successes and downfalls within the year, and where our country stands today. As President of the United States, it was Mr. Obama's duty to deliver this speech in order to revive the American spirit during this recession, as well as to show the immense amount of progress he has made during the four years of his presidency, with hopes of getting re-elected in 2012. With this being said, the context of this piece is causal because it was caused by a tradition that the president must make a State of the Union speech, as well as speaking to the entire American nation about himself and reminding America in his possible last year of presidency that he is a very efficient president. The purpose for this speech had two aims- to inform the American nation about the issues still needing to be fixed with a proposed solution, as well as to convince the public that President Obama is capable of being an ideal president for the next four years. The use of rhetoric in this speech was flawless, as it effectively helped to accomplish Obama's purpose. The president used a multitude of patterns of development such as narration through the story of single mom Jackie Bray and her job opportunity, cause and effect through the issues within America and Obama's plan to tackle them, as well as definition when the President defines America as he leaves a memorable impact on the citizens. The tone of this speech was ambitious because it sparked a need for motivation within America. The diction and syntax helped to create this tone by pertaining to the audience with choice of saying "we" as a whole, including the President as a common person. Finally, the conclusion of the speech with the use of an anaphora of repeating the phrase "this nation is great" helps the reader to remember why America is the world power and how we achieved this position, with the use of pathos.