Rhetoric Lab, August 26
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZNWYqDU948[/youtube]
On Friday, August 26, we will consider the ways in which First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention tackles with issues of national and global significance. This will be one of the several speeches from different sides of the US presidential race that we will consider this semester, as we also explore an effective global leadership rhetoric in cross-national texts.
Watch First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech, and respond to the following prompts. You may also follow the transcript online, and copy paste parts of it to support your points.
- First, make a personal list of the issues of national and global significance that Ms. Obama’s speech touches upon. Then, reflect on how these issues are related the Bill of Rights. Identify the amendments in the Bill of Rights that Obama’s speech builds on. Write down the number of the respective amendment, and explain the relevance of her points.
- Do you find this speech effective? Give a few examples of characteristics that make the speech effective.
Transcript of the speech: http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/26/politics/transcript-michelle-obama-speech-democratic-national-convention/
6 responses so far
#1 Firstly, Ms. Obama touches on issues of race through the stories of her children and a singular example of a young black boy whom approached Mr. Obama, inquiring if their hair was the same. Under the issue of prejudice, Ms. Obama notes that her and Mr. Obama have never given attention to the bullies of society, making claims that Mr. Obama is not a citizen of the United States nor a Christian–an apparent requirement now of U.S. presidents. In connection to the Bill of Rights, Ms. Obama is supporting the first Amendment with bringing up issues of insulting public comments (public speech) and religion. Although she purposefully never mentions specifics, such as which religion or exactly what comments, her point is still made clear despite the generalizations: leaders of America can face verbal attacks without resenting them for existing because this is the United States, and we are a country of free speech. Additionally, Ms. Obama makes a singular comment on police and protesters supporting the same cause: “all desperately want to keep our children safe.” Again–Ms. Obama ops to stay within a general court, although her message is again obvious. By mentioning both parties with equal emphasis, Ms. Obama is refusing to side with a single group. Instead, her comment relates back and supports her other diction (“our,” “trust”) for unity within the country. In relation to the Bill of Rights, the right to protest is made clear in–again–Amendment I. Additionally, people are protected against the excessive force that the people have begun to fear in regards to police in Amendment VIII.
Michelle Obama touched on many important aspects in her speech, the main focus being around the First Amendment. She discussed the importance of speech and stressed that the hate spewed by one person did not reflect the ideals of this country as a whole. There was an underlying tone of this freedom of speech part of the First Amendment throughout her speech as she continually touched on negative remarks of others but explained that in their household they say, “When they go low, we go high.” She often used the emotional appeal of children and expressed that whoever is next in the white house is who has the power to influence and shape our children for the next four to eight years. Mrs. Obama repeatedly mentioned that everything happening was for the future generations, the current children, and that is what drives and motivates us all. This led into the second aspect of the first amendment touched on with the right to assembly and petition. She mentioned the Dallas police officers and the protesters who both had the same end goal: fight for the protection of their children.
I found this speech extremely personally effective. She had great poise, emotion, timing, and body language. Mrs. Obama used strong family, feminist, and minority appeal. She didn’t attack Donald Trump, but instead gracefully pointed out flaws in his campaign and speeches.
#1.
1st Amendment: freedom of speech/press – Early in her speech Michelle is talking about her kids hearing things in the media about their father regarding his decisions as President, his citizenship, and even his race being questioned. She has never wanted the media to be silenced, but she goes on trying to teach her children to be better and not affected by these words.
9th Amendment: Michelle Obama referred to a list of people who want more for their kids then they themselves receive. Non-English speaking parents being the one that stood out most to me. She’s basically saying that even though they aren’t what we perceive as ‘Americans’ they still matter. They still have rights like everyone else.
1st Amendment: freedom of assembly and petition – Michelle made a reference in her speech to the Dallas police officers and protesters exercising their rights given in this amendment. This is relevant to her speech because it is a national tragedy that everyone feels connected to and has an opinion on.
#2.
Michelle is a fantastic public speaker. She is engaging to the audience, by making jokes and is all around appealing as a relatable speaker by using her status as a mother and woman. She makes references to recent tragedies such as the attack on police in Dallas and the nightclub attack in Orlando, which I think has had a large impact on most of the people in our country. Michelle has great body language, she looks relaxed, gives the audience time to react to what she is saying, then pulls them back to attention with ease. You can tell by listening to her that she is passionate about what she is talking about. When talking about her daughters at one point in the speech, her voice broke a little bit, showing the emotion behind what she is saying.
1) First Amendment: Ms. Obama often incorporates her faith in God in her speeches through biblical references, such as “…and there but for the grace of God go I.” She does this in order to better establish her public image as well as to ensure the people that religion is a very important aspect in her life. Overall, she is establishing the importance of one’s freedom of religion, as stated under the first amendment, without actually having to say its importance.
Second Amendment: Ms. Obama, though very briefly, does in fact touch upon the topic of guns. She states that she sent her two daughters off to school in black SUV’s, surrounded by “big men with guns.” The fact that Ms. Obama simply laughs off the idea of having her two young daughters surrounded by men with guns shows that she is at ease with the second amendment; that guns are to be allowed as long as they are being used responsibly. Though this may seem unimportant, Ms. Obama could have just as easily made a statement about how uncomfortable it made her to have her daughters surrounded by men with guns, however, she instead is seemingly grateful for having the second amendment to protect her two young daughters on the way to school.
2) I do feel that Ms. Obama’s speech was in fact effective. Her use of religion throughout her speech helped to strengthen her arguments as it allowed her to appear stronger as a person for having such a pure faith in God. However, she does not over do it- she carefully spreads out her use of her faith throughout her speech, such as when she strategically ends her speech by saying “God bless!” in order to reinstate the value of her faith. Further, her brief reference to the second amendment greatly shows that she has established a healthy balance between faith and guns; she is comfortable openly talking about God just as she is comfortable having “big men with guns” take her only two daughters to their first day of school. All in all, I feel that Ms. Obama’s speech was effective as her rhetoric was strategic and well executed.
When Michelle Obama was giving her speech, she stressed the importance of everyone voting and having their voice heard, and to not sit in silence. She wants people to exercise their first amendment. She also says a few things that relate to the tenth amendment, in regards to the government being made to serve the people. She essentially says that if people don’t speak up to help shape their government, then they ultimately end up hurting themselves in the long run: a government for the people and by the people cannot function without the input of the people. She continues to stress the importance of having individual voices come together to facilitate the greater good. To her, this is what will help the country get where it needs to be, that is, the president needs to be someone who is sensitive towards other cultures and mindful of global affairs, someone who realizes the problems of others can be our own. Having this kind of mindset helps build better relations with other countries and helps us become more caring as a nation.
I think this speech is effective because she speaks confidently and passionately; she clearly believes in what she says. Her words appear to be her own, and she knows them well enough that she doesn’t need to look at a transcript. It would appear that her confidence and preparation paid off, because she received tremendous applause after she finished, although it could be possible that the people who attended the speech were already very supportive of her views.
Maybe I’m the odd one out here, but I didn’t hear much substance, particularly in relation to the Bill of Rights, in Michelle Obama’s speech. She discussed the importance of making sure the next generation in this country is taken care of, which is of the utmost importance of course, but has no direct correlation to the Bill of Rights, aside from freedom of speech. However, Mrs. Obama does reference how she and the President are always in the public eye and their words and actions matter to everyone, not just their kids. This could possibly be seen as having a relation to the first amendment.
Personally I don’t think the speech was effective. While Michelle Obama made some statements that appeared to be sort of bold, she didn’t really say anything beyond what she knew would get applause from the audience. She kept referencing the children being the future of the country, but never quite connects Hillary Clinton to this fact, she simply states a fact about the children of the country, and then states another fact about Clinton to make them seem connected.