You might expect every presidential speech to be the same. The same huge words, professional tone, and standard topics that most of the world doesn't fully understand. Well, that definitely was not the case with Obama's "Back to School" speech, on September 28, 2011. No, in this particular speech, he used the opposite of all those.
Looking back at his speech, it's hard to forget that smile he flashed at the audience, and the 'down to earth' "hey", that he greeted his audience with. Although the speech was being broad casted all over, he created a trusting environment for the school in which he was delivering his speech. From the minute Obama walked onto the stand, you could tell people felt comfortable with him. He began to make connections with his audience right away by complimenting the girl that made the introduction, along with their principal. You could say he was trying to flatter the school, along with every student, teacher, and guest that attended. Later in his speech, he brought up his ethics class, in high school. With this, he related himself with the students that aren't good at a certain subject, or that just don't like their classes. All of this was done on purpose to tap into the emotions of his listeners. Those tactics didn't seem to hurt his credibility either! Mentioning the mayor of Washington, D,C, and other administrators created a good image of him (although he already has a pretty good image...he IS the president). Later in his speech, Obama mentions facebook and twitter, in attempt to create a stronger relationship and higher credibility with his audience. Oh, that doesn't help his credibility? Well, yes it does, because his immediate audience is, after all, high school students. And face it, we are all obsessed with tweeting, facebook stalking, and status updates. Pretty good trick he used there, eh?
Overall, Obama's voice is always clear and loud. It is accompanied by a tall, straight-backed stature. This makes him appear confident, and a confident person is way easier to trust, in my experience. They seem to know exactly what they are talking about, and seem to be proud to talk about it. By doing this, the president is making it a whole lot easier to persuade his audience. In this case, his argument is about continuing school. He explains why this generation needs to keep going through high school and college. He sneaks in a little logos in there, by telling the students that 60% of jobs will need a college degree or higher. In dropping that statistic, Obama is making the kids realize they need to go to school in order to get a job and survive. This is precisely what he wants. It may be that Obama is only good at picking when to splice in facts, not just a master manipulator. That's probably a good thing, though.
This exact speech, along with all of Obama's other speeches are packed with gestures and different tones, depending on the topic at hand. A common theme in Obama's speeches is talking about now. Now is the time for... We need to do this now. When he says the word 'now' his voice gets a noticeable amount louder, and he points. He does this every time. This puts emphasis on that word, and makes his audience pay attention. "Now" seems important, urgent, and even life changing; creating that feeling of purpose in the students, and others he is talking to.
All of this put together created a very comfortable, honest and understandable address. Everyone could understand it. Everyone could relate to it. And everyone could feel the need to do what he said. I guess that's a pretty accomplished speech, huh?
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