Barack Obama Speech notes

How does Barack Obama build rapport (bond, attention) with his audience in different contexts?

Intro- Comparing… Back to school event at Arlington, Virginia on September 9^th 2009 & the inauguration speech on January 20^th 2009. And how he uses this to create rapport.

P1-Direct address. BTS ‘I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school.’

-Humble, everyone acknowledged, not all about him.

-Uses ‘you’- directly to everyone – instead of ‘the students’

-Equal classed, so the president can relate.

- Inspire, motivate the educational policies. Role model.

P2- Direct address. Inauguration. ‘Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real.’

-Every individual needed for success in their country.

-Can’t rely only on him, won’t fix it alone.

-‘Today’ present, constant, now always today. ‘Here’ would symbolise it wouldn’t matter elsewhere.

-Wide audience speaking to, not at, influencing them to do something about it.

-Know what’s going on, what he’s going to do for their country.

^Comparison to P1

P3- Similar to direct address – use of pronoun ‘we’ ‘And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America.’

-Teamwork, needs them to be one himself.

-We instead of I, audience feels part of the good he’s doing. ‘Tuning in’ not ‘Listening’ doing something about it not just letting it blow over their heads.

-Sneaky not screaming at them to do better.

P4- Use of ‘we’ – ‘…and we are ready to lead once more.’ He needs the country for it to work.

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