Linda Logan

INT 375: A. Rapone- Instructor

Module 2 Project
October 6, 2014

Political Speech Analysis:

For my analysis, I choose President Obamas address to the nation hours
after the Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting in Newtown Connecticut on
December 12, 2012. I choose this speech because, I am a native of Connecticut,
born and raised, and spent countless hours visiting in Newtown Connecticut as a
girl growing up. Newtown is one of those idyllic, small towns in New England that
could be used as an inspirational setting for a Norman Rockwell painting. After
hearing the news broadcast about what happened less than 40 miles from my home
in Stamford, where I still resided at the time, I was badly shaken and my heart
crushed with overwhelming grief for those beautiful babies, and the heroic teachers
that lost their lives that day and, of course, for their families who mourned them
less than 12 days from Christmas.
The newscaster stated that the President would be addressing the nation
within a few moments of the breaking news, and I sat unmovable until I could hear
what our President had to say.
President Obama is among the most eloquent and articulate presidents of our
recent history. In all of his speeches, he not only talks to the American people in a

way that we can easily understand, but he teaches us and guides us to a place of
understanding in times such as these.
In his speech, the President does not speak to us as the leader of our
country, but as a father, as a concerned parent and as a grieving fellow American.
He uses contrastive pair, to relate this, I come to you today not as the President of
the United States, but as a parent . He speaks to share the pain of the families that
lost love ones that day, he cries because he can imagine the unspeakable loss they
feel and because of the relief he feels knowing that his two girls will be coming
home from school that day. He speaks this day not to persuade Americans to a
particular position, but to console and to inspire confidence in us that he will do all
in his power to make sure that this will never happen anywhere again. He lists
several states, Wisconsin, Colorado, Oregon and Connecticut where this type of
violence is rarely seen, and one, his home state of Chicago, where violence against
urban youth occurs every day (contrastive pair) and as a reminder to those families
who have lost their children, he has not forgotten. He uses pronouns such as we,
our and us, to share the identity of the grieving families. He uses the rule of
three, to describe the memories that this event has taken away from the children
and their families, birthdays, graduations, weddings, and children of their own.
To conclude this analysis, the techniques used by the President in this speech
are ones meant to console, and extend sympathy to America and place the real

blame for this heinous crime (dyseuphemism), on the right-wing congress and
gun lobbyist for not supporting stricter gun controls in America. The President
uses this speech and this tragic event to speak to the hearts of the American people,
congress and powerful interest groups who continue to turn a blind eye to gun
violence against our young people in this country.