Brandewie's Blog

“We all made this journey for a reason. It's humbling, but in my heart I know you didn't come here just for me, you came here because you believe in what this country can be. In the face of war, you believe there can be peace. In the face of despair, you believe there can be hope. In the face of a politics that's shut you out, that's told you to settle, that's divided us for too long, you believe we can be one people, reaching for what's possible, building that more perfect union.”
This is an excerpt from one of Barack Obama’s countless speeches on the campaign trail. Barack Obama is a very eloquent speaker, and many of his speeches have contributed to his success as the Democratic nominee. When using spoken word to convince people to vote a certain way, it is important for the candidate to convince the public that his or her policies fit with the voters’ policies. This can be very difficult because the voters often times share a wide spread view opinions. In the first sentence, Obama uses the personal pronoun “we”. Obama already has included himself with anyone who is listening to the speech, a very important tactic to associate the voter with the candidate. In the second sentence, he mentions war and peace. At this point, the majority of America is unhappy with our aggressive moves overseas such as in Afghanistan and Iraq. Obama, however, mentions just the simple words of war and peace, keeping the listening audience interested. If Obama had went in a rant about what we need to do overseas, many people would be turned off because they might not agree with his policies. This is what makes is so right and so wrong at the same time in politics. If Obama would have explained the policies he plans to implement, probably less people would vote for him. The voting public harms itself by clinging to statements that are broad and general because they are unsure what they are supporting. As stated throughout Orwell’s essay of “Politics and the English Language”, modern English lends itself to be general rather than specific. It is something that we, the voting public, are responsible for because we do not demand clear, specific speech from our politicians. In the third senctence, Obama speaks broadly again by saying “In the face of despair, you believe there can be hope.” This is another broad sentence that is impossible to disagree with. The next sentence provides more of the same. Nonetheless a politician must be very skilled to construct a sentence that anyone will agree with, no matter the wide spectrum of different people that will hear it. Here is the second sentence of the excerpt remodeled and used effectively.
In the middle of defeat, the Chicago Bears were able to capitalize on mistakes and win the game