Barack Obama's DNC Speech

President Barack Obama’s speech to the Democratic National Convention accepting their nomination was filled with dreams.  Dreams of what America could become, what possibilities lie out there, much similar to his campaign four years ago.  However, this time, he had much to back himself up with – his accomplishments in his first term as president.  These accomplishments may not be as expansive as anticipated, but the way that he spun them made it clear that he had fulfilled many of his promises. 

As usual, his speech began with a slew of glittering generalities and sentimental stories, but quickly phased into reminding people why he was elected in the first place: “You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. You elected me to tell you the truth.”  This, I think, gets to what Obama is about, after which he admits that what he has wanted to and wants to accomplish cannot be reasonably accomplished in just a few years, addressing the concern of many Americans.  He also talked about how he has improved manufacturing, increased jobs, helped renewable energy, reduced carbon pollution, made education more affordable, assisted veterans, and more, all given very effectively with evidence and aesthetics, making for a very convincing rhetorical argument.  However, when he talked about his plans for his next term, his use of evidence dried up.  He spoke in generalized terms about what he wanted to do, while never really discussing how he wanted to do it.  “And together, I promise you, we can out-educate and out-compete any nation on Earth,” he said, never really backing up the statement with any specifics.  Then, toward the end, he made a transition into appeals to the emotions of the audience: “It was about you. My fellow citizens, you were the change,” going on to describe what ‘they’ had done in his four years as president.  This arrangement shows a mastery of rhetoric – getting the audience emotional, throwing in some strong evidence, and then finishing off with some more appeals to leave America feeling patriotic.