Wise Rhetorical Strategies

Upon Re-reading Obamas speech about Faith and Politics there are several wise and unwise rhetorical strategies used throughout.

The Rogerian Argument style is the first wise strategy used in Obama’s speech. He creatively crafted his opening words in a way that is very non-threatening. Then proceeds to congratulate the audience for their hard work in the political world before addressing the problem at hand. This strategy was used simply to start off on a win/win mind set with the audience; he wasn’t there to blame anyone.

            Pathos, Ethos and Logos rhetorical strategies were used in abundance throughout his speech. Obama appealed to the audience’s emotions (Pathos. For example, “Americans have fewer close friends and confidants than ever before. And so they need an assurance that somebody out there cares about them, is listening to them - that they are not just destined to travel down that long highway towards nothingness” (Obama 2). This statement used powerful words that had an emotional impact on the reader/listener.

Obama referred to the Ethos style of persuasion frequently during his speech and for a good reason. His blue suit was masking Obamas true character and credibility towards the red sea of audience members he was addressing. Several times he mentioned working with the church or someone affiliated with the church. “I was working with the churches, and the Christians who I worked with recognized themselves in me” (Obama 2). “Pastors, friends of mine like Rick Warren and T.D. Jake . . . ” (Obama 4).  This strategy gave the audience the O.K. to trust Obama.

Along with the Pathos and Ethos style of rhetoric, Obama used the Logos approach. He gave several facts and statistics backing up his claims. For example, “90 percent of us believe in God, 70 percent affiliate themselves with an organized religion, 38 percent call themselves committed Christians, and substantially more people in America believe in angels than they do in evolution” (Obama 2). He chose these statistics to be paired with the claim stating Americans are religious people, this provided support for the reader.