Marshall Hopkins Dr.

Dietel-McLaughlin MM Writing and Rhetoric 5 October 2012 Speaking for Change

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In less than a month, the American people will face a decision regarding the next four years and the future of the United States. Persuaded Americans will make the choice of whether another term of Barack Obama would be beneficial or if it is time to allow a more conservative direction into Washington with a Republican President. The rhetoric that candidates employ drives Americans to select left or right. Both Barack Obama and Ted Cruz, Texas Republican Senate candidate, utilize rhetorical strategies in their speeches to emphasize a need for change in the United States of America. In Obamas 2008 Yes We Can speech and Cruzs speech weeks ago at the Republican National Convention, both politicians present different viewpoints to different parties in similar ways to convince Americans one party over the other; still, they are actually more similar than different because of the rhetorical strategies narration, style, tone, voice, and repetition that they each reveal to the audience. Many months before the 2008 Presidential election, then President nominee Barack Obama gave one of the best and well known speeches, his Yes we Can speech. This famous speech took place in January of 2008 in New Hampshire. Within this legendary speech, Obama utilizes persuasion in order to gain the support of American voters. Barack Obama, who is a very articulate public speaker, utilizes the rhetorical strategies such as narration, style, tone and voice, and repetition to convince America to select him as the next President and the first African-

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American president of the United States of America. This speech has been considered one of the best of all time and its rhetoric was effective. Four years later in the heat of the current 2012 election, last month Ted Cruz gave a speech in Tampa, Florida, at the Republican National Convention. Ted Cruz pronounced ideas and visions for the future of America as well. It was clear the message that Cruz was trying to deliver, and that was the hope of the United States need not be coordinated by current President, Barack Obama. Persuasively speaking, Ted Cruz hopes this speech will open the eyes of the American people to expire Barack Obamas tenure as Commander-in-Chief. The rhetorical strategies that Cruz employ are similar to the approaches of Obamas speech back in 2008. While also employing rhetorical strategies such as narration, style, tone and voice, and the use of repetition, Ted Cruz offers an inspirational speech to a Republican Audience in Tampa and an even bigger audience, the American people. Barack Obama iterates the rhetorical tactic narration in his speech in order to captivate the attention of his audience. In An Overview of Rhetoric, James Herrick defines the art of rhetoric as the systematic study and intentional practice of effective symbolic expression which rhetoric is derived (7). The effectiveness of Obamas speech can be seen response of America following his speaking. Soon after, the Yes We Can motto became intensely popular appearing on signs and in the minds of the American people. In Obamas expression, he tells of several examples and achievements that can be assessed through his motto, Yes We Can. He speaks of the determination of slaves escaping from captivity, a President believing the idea of a man on the moon, and a king who believed in equality and just for all people. All of these purposes deriving from the idea that yes it can be done. Obama is persuading his audience that America is in need of a change from bad politics. Lloyd Bitzer declares in The Rhetorical

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Situation that In order to clarify rhetoric-as-essentially-related-to-situation, we should acknowledge a viewpoint that is commonplace but fundamental: a work of rhetoric is pragmatic; it comes into existence for the sake of something beyond itself; it functions ultimately to produce action or change in the world (4). Change by action is exactly what Obama is attempting to convince to his listeners. Each story that Obama narrates achieves some level of betterment for the American people. This gives the audience the confidence that there is no task that cannot be accomplished in the greatest nation in the world. By telling such success stories through rhetoric the spectators suppose that if they come together and vote for Barack Obama then Yes We Can attain any goal. At various points of Ted Cruzs speech, he utilizes the rhetorical tactic of narration to present an inspirational message to his audience. Narration is a message that tells a course of events. He tells the story of his parents and their struggles and how they reached success through determination and obstacles. First he tells the story of his mother. He states that his mother, an Irish-Italian working class woman, became the first to attend college in her family and later became a pioneer and computer programmer. With the presence of emotional appeal, Cruz tells the immigration story of his father. His father, a Cuban, was imprisoned, beaten, and tortured before escaping to Texas with no English background and a mere one hundred dollars. Cruz narrates that his father washed dishes for fifty cents an hour, which helped him pay his way through college and eventually start a small business in the oil and gas industry.. Change is what Cruz is promising America if they elect Romney. Cruz depicts that stories such as his parents, are the same story of America people. Similar to Obama, both narrations include the theme of determination. He conveys how a sequence of events reveals the determination that his parents experienced before ultimately showing the change of their lives. While narrating his parents

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histories, he is also generating emotional appeal. Cruzs purpose is to recount events and portray the American people as persevering and capable to reach success through the means of change. Barack Obama is a well-experienced public speaker and through his style, tone, and voice, he attempts to gain the support of his audience. Obama recites this speech in a tone informing the audience his seriousness about the demand of change in the United States. Obama is constantly saying the word we creating an image that the only way to change is together undivided. Barack Obama has a voice that engages people, just on how it sounds. Because of the tone of Obama, Obamas speech was soon crafted into a song produced Will.I.Am of the band Black Eyed Peas. The song gives Obama even another aspect of rhetoric while it circulated the Internet. The speech builds up to the idea of determination that then Presidential nominee had for America. The tone of his voice is an indication that his plans would include betterment for the United States. Creating a shift in tone, Obama speaks louder and directly into the microphone signifying his urgency and encouraging the American people to support him. Patrick Calderon, author of The Church and Dissenters states that The shift in tone and rhetorical style serves to make this contrast clearer, more pronounced (15). With his hand movements, he conveys to the audience that they can trust his word. Through his style, tone, and voice, Ted Cruz speaks to the Republican people in an unusual manner of most politicians. Cruz recites his speech at the National Convention without using at a podium, which most politicians stand behind while addressing the American people. In this manner, the Texas politician creates a sense of closeness to his audience. Cruz presents himself to the audience by employing certain body movements. He is constantly pacing from each side of the stage to the other while continuously makes eye contact with the audience. This is something that Barack Obama also does very well. They both present actual eye contact to

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their audiences as if they were talking to each and every person individually. The tone of his voices is attempting to persuade the American people that the United States needs change, furthermore needs to be lead by Mitt Romney. Bitzer declares, rhetorical discourse comes into existence as a response to a situation, in the same sense that an answer comes into existence in response to a question or a solution in response to a problem (5). Ted Cruz communicated to his audience that Barack Obama was in fact the problem. His voice conveys a positive message to convince Americans the importance of being determined. Obamas biggest and most important use of rhetoric would be the use of repetition. With three words, he continuously excites the crowd by saying yes we can. This rhetorical communication was proven to be very effective following his speech. It was soon a creed of the American people, being seen on signs, t-shirts, and bumper stickers. The success of three word simple slogan inspired Americans that there was still hope for the United States. By retelling this motto, he convinces the audience to believe that anything can be done. The following excerpt is from Barack Obamas speech, which includes this catchy three-word slogan. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when weve been told that were not ready, or that we shouldnt try, or that we cant, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people. Yes we can It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation. Yes we can. It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights. Yes we can. It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness. Yes we can was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us

Hopkins 6 to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Lands Yes we can to justice and equality. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can repair this world. Yes we can.

With the use of anaphora, he signified the importance of determination and ultimately what made his speech so memorable. He presents this phrase implying that if he is elected he will prove that he will strive to make this country a better nation. His repetition was crucial in the overall message to the American people. Obama influences the crowd with the rhetorical tactic of stating how America can rise to become a better nation by placing him in The White House. In comeback to Barack Obamas Yes We Can Speech and campaign motto, Ted Cruz uses repetition very similar to Barack Obamas, even proclaiming these same three words in a counter argument to him. In the conclusion of his speech, Cruz comes to a close by using the words of President Barack Obamas slogan against him. Cruz asks to the audience, Can we restore the constitution? Yes we can. He then goes on to question Can we [Republicans] retake the Senate? The crowd responds Yes we can. Cruz queries, Can we repeal Obamacare. The crowd chants Yes we can. Then ultimately he inquires, Can we defeat President Barack Obama? The audience jumps to their feet chanting, Yes we can. The use of this repetitiveness, which is parallel to the anaphora of Obamas speech, constructs a persuading speech at the Republican National Convention and adding to the rhetoric of his speech. Although some people would consider that these are two very different speeches, the truth is they are more alike than dissimilar. Both Obama and Cruz are speaking to different parties with the same intention in mind, to win the votes of the American people. Both are utilizing similar strategies in their speeches and each even employ emotional appeal to Americans. Some also believe it was wrong for Ted Cruz to borrow the dominance of Obamas

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Yes We Can motto in opposition to his presidency. However, the rhetoric that politicians employ is completely up to them and their speech advisors. Ted Cruz and Barack Obama perceive somewhat different visions for the future of America. However, the rhetorical strategies that they employ to articulate are very much similar. Through narration, style, tone, voice, and repetition, each politician attempts to persuade the American people to voting Democratic of Republican. There is underlying message of an appreciation of Americas future that influences how a politician delivers his or her speech. One principal connection that Obama and Cruz share is that America needs change.

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Works Cited Bitzer, Lloyd F. "Philosophy & Rhetoric." Philosophy & Rhetoric. Penn State University Press, 24 Sept. 2011. Web. 05 Oct. 2012. <http://www.psupress.org/journals/jnls_pr.html>. Calderon, Patrick. "The Church and Its Dissenters." Fresh Writing. Vol. 12. Plymouth: HaydenMcNeil, 2012. 13-16. Print. Herrick, James. "An Overview of Rhetoric." The History and Theory of Rhetoric. 2nd ed. N.p.: Allyn and Bacon, 2001. 1-25. Print.