Brandewie's Blog

“It’s a belief that says if this nation was truly founded on the principles of freedom and equality, it could not sit idly by while millions were shackled because of the color of their skin. That if we are to shine as a beacon of hope to the rest of the world, we must be respected not just for the might of our military, but for the reach of our ideals. That if this is a land where destiny is not determined by birth or circumstance, we have a duty to ensure that the child of a millionaire and the child of a welfare mom have the same chance in life. That if out of many, we are truly one, then we must not limit ourselves to the pursuit of selfish gain, but that which will help all Americans rise together.”
This speech was given by Barack Obama after receiving the Robert F. Kennedy human rights award. The first impression from the context of the speech that Obama’s only objective in the speech was to accept the award and dish out some advice. However, Obama is also trying to prove with the upcoming election that validity of his leadership. In the first sentence, Obama effectively contrasts the adjectives “freedom and equality” and “with millions were shackled because of the color of their skin”. He draws a line to slavery, without mentioning it. The second sentence has a very fitting metaphor, “beacon of hope”, which allows Obama to mention one of the words so commonly used in his campaign to talk about Robert Kennedy. He further goes on to mention “a child of a millionaire and a child of a welfare mom have a same chance on life.” As Barack Obama goes deeper into the speech, he begins to turn himself into a “Robert Kennedy like” icon without sounding pompous or self gratifying. In the last sentence, the verbiage used sounds like a campaign speech, but also fits in a tribute to Robert Kennedy. This paragraph shows to grace in the English language. Obama had great skill to comment on the greatness of a legendary politician, and include how he is similar. He did all of that without sounding like he was bragging. I will now take the last sentence and show how it can be used to fit in another context.
That if different people across the county can bad together, not limit our play for the gratification of individual statistics, but rather fight together to win the All-Star Championship.