Obama's Rhetoric and the Myth of Virtuous Power

Scientific Essay from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: "-", University of Dusseldorf "Heinrich Heine" (Institut für Kultur und Medien), language: English, abstract: An initial reaction to the appearance of Barack Obama on the
American political stage has been one oscillating between
reluctant approval, enthusiastic appreciation and
mistrusting rejection. The chance of the first African-
American president brought about much support for Obama, as
well as critique claiming that he would just be a tool of
liberal forces to put forth a politically correct agenda.
The problem of race, very early on in the presidential
primaries and later in the general election, was oddly
unspoken of, yet permanently present.

[...]

Two speeches of Barack Obama will serve as a foundation for
analysis. One is "A More Perfect Union", given in March 2008
in the height of the Democratic primary campaign. It deals
with the race problematic in America. The other one is his
Inaugural Address from January 2009 which of course has a
much more celebratory tone. Both speeches center around the
question of how the American society does deal and should
deal with times of economical distress though their topical
focus is an entirely different one. However, the effect both
aim for, and to a large degree surely achieve, is a uniting
one. Uniting different racial groups, uniting political
opponents, uniting most of the divisive tendencies of
society to reclaim the American Dream.

Publisher: GRIN Publishing

Published: United States, 8 November 2009

Format: Paperback / softback, 48 pages

Dimensions: 21 x 14.8 x 0.3 centimeters (0.07 kg)

Writer: Märten, Annegret