Rhetorical Analysis Of Obama Victory Speech

Purv Chauhan
Jack Geist
English 108
February 16, 2018

Barack Obama victory speech
Rhetorical Analysis

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible - tonight is your answer.” (Obama, 2008). Barack Obama was elected president on Nov 5, 2008. He argues in his speech that whatever was going on in the country, it is going to change, it was a dawn of a new beginning. He begins by building his credibility by showing that others who doubted the people of his country, tonight was their answer, and telling an anecdote about a old lady who had seen the country progress. Ultimately at the end, he ends his speech strongly by making the audience say “Yes, we can”, and getting applauded by the audience.
In his speech, he focused on the major issues facing the United States and the world, all echoed through his campaign slogan of change. He also Madelyn Dunham, who died just two nights earlier. He first sets the stage by telling those people - who questioned the dreams of the American people and the power of democracy - that tonight was their answer, thanking

He outlines the life she lived in the past century, when their were no cars on the road and no planes in the sky, when someone like her could not vote, due to her being a woman and being light skinned, she saw the country when their was a huge depression, she was their when the first person landed on the moon and she was their through the pain and the hope, the struggle and the progress, she saw America developing and progressing for a century. Obama also made reference to his popular campaign chant, “Yes, We Can”: “And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t; and the people who pressed on with that American creed: 'Yes, we