CONTEXT

            Obama delivered his 2008 Victory speech at a unique time in American history. The country was in the midst of an economic crisis the likes of which had not been seen since the Great Depression. On top of this, the country was also mired in two wars, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan that had become largely unpopular, as had the previous administration which had started the two wars.[i] The decision to engage in these two wars, paired with other controversial decisions made by the Bush administration had given rise to near-unparalleled political partisanship and division in the country.[ii] To put a cap on this unique circumstance Obama was the first African American elected to the presidency of the United States. This heady combination of social, political, and economic turmoil placed Obama in a difficult position on the night of his election. Having started as an underdog candidate who, through his powerful speaking and message of change, had won over the American Democratic party and catapulted him to his historic victory despite his relative lack of political experience in comparison with other members of the 2008 presidential Democratic primary and general election field, Obama had many expectations to meet going into his presidency.

            This unique set of circumstances and challenges facing Obama allowed him to turn what was traditionally an epideictic speech into a much more powerful call to action than the typical ritualistic victory speech of a presidential candidate.[iii] While the general exigences for a presidential victory speech still applied, the need to bring the country together after a divisive campaign season, and to thank those who supported the candidate throughout the course of the campaign. Obama also needed to provide hope and direction as he rallied the nation in a time of intense instability, and restore faith in the American system. As if this uniquely momentous moment for America was not enough of a challenge for an incoming president, Obama also needed to address the socially historic achievement of becoming the first African American president.

The speech was Obama’s opportunity to create a presidential first impression after his victory. He did this admirably. Choosing to give his victory speech outside to a larger live crowd than most victory speeches garner and in a location that had a negative historical context for the Democratic party, striking a note of renewal and change even in the setting that he chose.[iv] With the large crowd that was able to fit in the outdoor space, images of the speech gave the appearance of popularity and support needed for a president taking office in tumultuous times. His delivery of the speech was solemn, more so than might have been expected after such a historic victory.[v] This helped to showcase his humility while avoiding the ostracizing effect a boisterous and triumphant speech may have had on the supporters of the Republican candidate. Obama was also careful to use a more solemn tone in his speech as it highlighted his point that this was not the end goal but merely the beginning of the hard work that lay ahead.

AUDIENCE

Obama faced two distinct audiences when giving his Victory speech both of which are typical audiences for a presidential victory speech. First, Obama was addressing an audience of his supporters, those that had been with him through the entirety of the campaign and now looked for recognition and a celebration of their hard work and success. This is the audience that packed Grant Park in Chicago where Obama gave the speech but also watched from television sets around the nation. The other audience was made up of the general American public, including all of those who had voted against Obama in the election. This second audience needed to be brought back into the fold, have political wounds healed, and be united as one nation under a new president. This audience was also watching around the nation the night of the election, but also read the speech in newspapers and caught parts of it on televised reruns on the news the following day.

Obama does a fantastic job juggling his two audiences, thanking his supporters while not appearing to gloat after his victory, promoting unity and bi-partisanship while not appearing ungrateful to the supporters that had gotten him the presidency and through the entire speech appeared to weave the two audiences closer together by focusing on the idea of a united America with more that connects people than separates them. The reaction of the in-person audience at Grant Park was animated and shows that the speech quite clearly landed well with Obama’s supporters. The chants and cheers of the crowd forced Obama to pause at several points during his delivery of the speech and culminated in a powerful unplanned call and response to finish the speech.[vi]

The reaction of the general public was exposed in newspaper articles the following day and it too was by and large a positive reaction. Many newspapers across the country seemed to grasp the main focus of the speech, focusing on Obama’s recognition of the challenges ahead and the call to action for the American public to help him face these challenges.[vii] The New York Times called it “notable for its sobriety and its absence of the triumphalism that he might understandably have displayed on a night when he won an Electoral College landslide.”[viii] As well as “a slap to the rejectionist politics of Bush.”[ix] USA Today called it, “inspirational.”[x] Several newspapers also focused on the massive crowd his speech drew and their animated reactions to his speech at Grant Park.[xi] This isn’t to say that all articles written about the speech were positive. A notable exception came in the form of an opinion section of the Wall Street Journal which in one piece took issue with what they perceived as a dour view of America and accused Obama of “messianism”.[xii] In another opinion in the same opinions page said that while the speech was “graceful and at times uplifting, (it) was light when it comes to an agenda.”[xiii]

ORGANIZATION

The speech starts off with a recognition and appreciation of the individuals and the group that supported Obama in his campaign before segueing into the work that was to come. The middle portions of the speech build on one another from his focus on the work ahead to the unity it would take to accomplish the goals he had laid out throughout his campaign. After uniting his audiences together under the second persona of the speech as Americans rather than democrats or republicans, Obama moves into a narrative section of the speech telling the story of a 106-year-old African American woman Ann Nixon Cooper who voted in Atlanta using her lifetime as a way to describe the hardships that America has already overcome and to move into the ending of the speech where he calls the audience to work together as Americans to overcome the struggles present in the economically and politically unstable time of 2008. The way Obama structures his speech allows him to seamlessly transition from a humble presidential candidate’s acceptance and appreciation of victory to a new president calling his nation to act as one people to face the challenges of the time.

This organization of ideas paired with the style of Obama’s rhetoric and his rhetorical appeals did discover the available means of persuasion at the time of the speech. In his Victory Speech Obama is able to strike a balance between unity and change and even tie the two ideas together as mutually dependent while rousing the American people and empowering them to create the change they wished to see in America themselves. This message of hope provided confidence in Obama’s leadership and helped keep national partisanship from worsening. The only exigence Obama failed to address was his election as the first African American president of the United States. This may have been by design in order to avoid the cultural tensions it would have raised in an effort to promote American unity; however, it was still an important exigence that was not satiated in his Victory speech.[xiv]

ETHOS

Obama’s focus on appeals to ethos throughout the speech works to set him up as presidential and deserving of victory despite his relative youth and lack of experience compared to his predecessor, George Bush, and his opponent in the presidential race, John McCain. Obama’s appeals focus on building Ethos with those who did not vote for him and the American public in general by appealing to the Ethos he had already built throughout his campaign to show Americans that he was the right man to bring change to the American system and create a sense of confidence in his leadership before he even entered office.

A large focus of Obama’s appeals to Ethos in the speech revolves around the idea that he was chosen by the people, by everyday working men and women. This is exemplified in the speech when he brings up the idea that his presidential campaign was not “ hatched in the back halls of Washington”[xv] but rather by everyday working-class families across the United States that “dug into their savings to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.”[xvi] In this same vein Obama speaks early in his speech about the record turnout of the election, insinuating that with record numbers of Americans voting he had been elected and thus was supported by the majority of Americans. This idea was also showcased in the chosen setting for the speech. Grant Park was outdoors and allowed a massive crowd of over one hundred thousand people to listen to his victory speech and to be showcased on live television, portraying the image of immense public support for his presidency. This cold outdoor setting in Chicago in November also serves to highlight Obama’s youth and vigor.

Obama does a good job of setting himself up as a president of all Americans, not just those that voted for him. He does this implicitly by bringing up the phone call he got from Senator John McCain, congratulating him on his victory, and showing support from his opponent going forward. In bringing up the phone call he speaks very well of Senator McCain, congratulating him on such a well-run campaign, ensuring he does not ostracize republican voters and creating the appearance of bi-partisanship and cooperation between parties, promoting the idea that he is liked and supported across the aisle. He also explicitly makes sure to inform the audience that he will be a president for all Americans with the line, “And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your president too.”[xvii]

The final series of appeals to ethos regard Obama’s personal character. He very clearly sets himself up as a family man no different from the citizens that voted for him. He does this through several explicit mentions of his wife and his daughters, thanking them for their support throughout his campaign. He even uses it to add a small moment of levity to the speech by mentioning that his daughters Sasha and Malia had, “earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House.”[xviii] This invokes the traditional image of the American family with the husband, wife, two kids, and a dog and helps to humanize Obama.

While he sets himself up as an everyday family man Obama is also careful to project a very presidential persona throughout the speech. His tone is humble about his victory while not depreciating the value of the office he has been elected to. There are several instances in the speech where Obama either quotes Lincoln directly, “Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours: ‘We are not enemies, but friends… though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.’”[xix]. Or where he alludes to him, “millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth,”[xx] invoking a correlation between Lincoln’s powerful leadership in a hard time for the United States with Obama’s own leadership as he accepted his role as president. This presidential persona and connection to Lincoln is strengthened when Obama directly tells the American public, “I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree.”[xxi] This line projects openness and honesty and builds on the idea that Obama would be a president for all Americans regardless of party.

PATHOS

In his Victory Speech Obama’s appeals to Pathos fall into two distinct categories. One is his focus on American exceptionalism and tradition. The other revolves around his understanding of and empathy for the hardships of the average American family and the hope for future generations of America.

Obama’s appeal to American traditionalism and exceptionalism is prevalent throughout the entire speech, taking different forms to meet the rhetorical style of any given part of the speech. Early in the speech Obama speaks to the idea that political engagement is one of the major factors of what it means to be American but that being American transcends any political affiliation, “in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.”[xxii] Further on in the speech Obama explains that “a new dawn of American leadership”[xxiii] was at hand for the global community, based on the idea that the “true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.”[xxiv] He follows this line by proclaiming that “the true genius of America (is) - that America can change.”[xxv] Both of these lines from the speech appeal to the idea of American exceptionalism, a concept that was important to emphasize in a time when America was facing so many challenges.

American traditionalism and resilience come from Obama’s many appeals to history throughout the speech. He also attaches this idea of American resilience to himself, setting his campaign up as an underdog story claiming that he “was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements,”[xxvi] but that his campaign had triumphed anyway through its resilience. This ties into another line in the speech in which Obama calls for the American public to help him change America, “to join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for 221 years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand,”[xxvii] calling to mind the hard work and strength of the American system while once again tying American accomplishments to the idea of change. He finishes the speech with his strongest example of American resilience by telling the story of 106-year-old Ann Nixon Cooper and in the process going over the challenges America had overcome in the last hundred years, finishing each accomplishment with the words “Yes, we can.”[xxviii] Setting that phrase up as the quintessentially American idea of resilience, that Americans can do anything.

Obama creates an empathetic appeal for the struggle of everyday Americans with examples of the hardship he knows occurs across the nation every day, that “there are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor's bills, or save enough for their child's college education.”[xxix] This ties into Obama’s focus on families affected in America by the economic crisis, showing his own value of family by bringing them up early in the speech, specifically bringing up how proud his grandmother would be of his success, creating empathy in his audience due to the fact that his grandmother had passed away two days prior to the speech, so close to seeing her grandson’s success but just missing the opportunity.

This focus on the hardships of the American family and the value of family, in general, helps lead to Obama’s final major Pathetic appeal in the speech is when he appeals to Americans to think about their children in his ending call to action with the powerful line, “let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?”[xxx] This appeal to the future and focus on the immediate impacts of the challenges facing America created a sense of urgency and expectation to change America for the better.

LOGOS

Obama’s logical appeals in the speech are largely implicit and tied to one another closely. One of his big logical appeals throughout the speech is that the American system is working and that it revolves around change. Following closely in the same vein as this idea, he makes the logical appeal that change is the will of the people. This idea that change is quintessentially American and the will of the people stems from two other logical appeals, that America has endured poor leadership under the previous administration and that change is an integral part of  America’s ability to overcome hardships in the past and ability to overcome the current challenges to create a better future for the next generation of Americans.

Obama makes his logical appeal regarding the idea that the American system is working early in the speech with his commentary on the number of people who came out to vote in the election and follows it up by showing that the supporters who elected him are everyday people. Once he has made this logical claim it is much easier for him to make the argument that change is the will of the people. This focus on change and the will of the people has been a part of Obama’s rhetoric since he entered politics.[xxxi] He does this by outlining many of the challenges that face America, sobering the speech’s celebratory tone with the explicit appeal, “for even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.”[xxxii] The other implicit appeal that change is necessary lies in the insinuation that he ran on the idea of change and that he was elected by the average American naturally creating the extrapolation that the average American wants change in the country. He follows this argument with frequent calls for unity, setting unity up as necessary for this change to occur.

These logical appeals are based on the even more implicit argument that the previous administration’s leadership was poor. The entire idea of change being necessary indicates that the status quo was not good enough to face the challenges present in America and even set up some of the actions taken by the previous administration, namely the creation of two wars, as the challenges causing hardship for America. This argument is strengthened in Obama’s address to the rest of the world where he insinuates that the globe had become doubtful of the American system under the previous administration and that his election would usher in a renewal of American leadership on the world stage.

As for the logical appeal that change is essential to the previous success’ of America and integral for America’s future, Obama uses Ann Nixon Cooper’s life as a template to talk about the challenges the U.S. has overcome setting up change in America as the metric for American success. Thus he is able to set up the implicit argument that America has overcome challenges before, so it will overcome them again. This narrative also leads into Obama explicitly asking what changes will America have created for future generations as his call to action, finishing his speech’s implicit logical argument.

STYLE

Obama uses certain rhetorical devices and core themes as a speaker that could almost be qualified as hallmarks of his particular style of rhetoric and they are on full display in his Victory Speech.[xxxiii] The major rhetorical devices present throughout the speech include antithesis, repetition, storytelling, and anthypophora.[xxxiv] The major themes that had been with him since early in his political career were those of hope and change which as discussed previously were prevalent in Obama’s victory speech.[xxxv]

Antithesis is used throughout the speech to create a sense of contrast. This contrast can be used to create a sense of good and bad, right and wrong, or, alternatively, a sense of unity. Obama uses this antithesis to create a sense of contrast that highlights unity early in the speech, explaining that people “young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled”[xxxvi] came out to vote, proving that Americans have “never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of Red States and Blue States.”[xxxvii] Another major example of Obama’s use of antithesis to create unity is in his story of Ann Nixon Cooper, using it to highlight “the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress”[xxxviii] that has marked American history, creating a strong parallel to the difficulties facing America at the time of the speech and the struggle it would take to face them.

Antithesis is used to create the contrast of good and bad in the section of the speech in which Obama addresses the world as a whole, using it to promote a sense of global cooperation and show that America’s leadership on the world stage would focus on more international cooperation. In this same section of the speech, Obama uses an analogy of light, creating the image of America as a beacon of leadership for the world. Antithesis is also used to create this good and evil contrast in the line, “we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.”[xxxix] This is a beautiful example of metonymy and highlights Obama’s focus on the everyday American over big business.[xl]

Repetition appears in two major forms in the speech, both anaphora and epistrophe.[xli] The anaphora is in the opening paragraphs of the speech in which Obama repeats “It’s the answer”[xlii] to start several consecutive paragraphs, highlighting ways in which the American system was proven to be working. This ties into Obama’s use of anthypophora as it is used as an extended answer to a question that he posed himself.[xliii] This happens twice in the speech, first with regards to whether the American dream and system are still working. The second use of anthypophora is in Obama’s section regarding the rest of the world in which he poses and answers the question, “to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.”[xliv] This use of anthypophora is helpful in Obama’s ability to invite the audience to engage in self-persuasion. Obama’s attempt to incite self-persuasion is also apparent in the line, “I know you didn't do this just to win an election and I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead,”[xlv] Thus insinuating the idea that the hard work ahead was not his own goal but the goal of his supporters all along.

The other form of repetition, epistrophe, comes with his use of the phrase, “yes, we can.”[xlvi] While the phrase “yes, we can”[xlvii] is used throughout the speech as a motto, not just for his campaign and supporters but for American resilience and exceptionalism, the epistrophe is created towards the end of the speech when Obama uses “yes, we can”[xlviii] after detailing certain trials America has overcome over the past hundred years. This creates an impromptu moment in which the crowd begins to mirror every “yes, we can”[xlix] Obama finishes his paragraphs with. This moment in the speech can be heard in the video recording and it is obvious it was not intended but once it started, Obama was quick enough to adapt to it on his feet, creating the most powerful moment in the entire speech.

The storytelling aspect of Obama’s rhetoric has been cited throughout this analysis and is an integral part of the speech. The most notable moment of storytelling in the speech is Obama’s story about Ann Nixon Cooper which acts as a powerful build toward his call to action. Her story is used as a stand-in for America’s own story over the past one hundred years. Obama uses the chronological timeline of challenges America has overcome to implicitly build toward his presidency as a natural culmination of the struggle. This implicit logical appeal that his presidency is the natural culmination of the American struggle paired with his opening words setting up his election to the presidency as an indicator that the American system is still working and that the American dream is alive, is the closest Obama comes to addressing his historic role as the first African American elected to the presidency.

Obama’s storytelling creeps into the speech earlier as well. When describing the trials facing everyday Americans in the economic crisis and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Obama uses language that while never a full story, has the feel of capturing a scene from the stories of everyday Americans, and the imagery and short scenes used, act as powerful emotional appeals.

Another smaller stylistic choice that crops up in Obama’s victory speech is his allusion to previous presidents. As discussed earlier in the analysis Obama alludes to Lincoln several times during the speech attempting to associate his own leadership with the near-mythic status of Lincoln’s presidency. Obama also seems to mirror JFK’s inaugural address at several points during the speech, calling for “a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice”[l] while explaining the challenges facing the nation, but also offering hope and optimism for the future through hard work and sacrifice; this is incredibly similar wording and structure to the famous 1961 speech.[li]

[i] "This American Moment — the Surprises." New York Times Company, last modified Nov 05.

[ii] "This American Moment — the Surprises." New York Times Company, last modified Nov 05.

[iii] Rhetoricae, Silva. "Epideictic." Epideictic Oratory. Accessed April 26, 2021. http://rhetoric.byu.edu/Branches of Oratory/Epideictic.htm.

[iv] Sheckels, Theodore F. "Place, Genre, and Polyphony in Barack Obama’s Election Night Address." American Behavioral Scientist 54, no. 4 (2010): 394-405. doi:10.1177/0002764210381715.

[v] Nagourney, Adam. 2008. "Obama: Racial Barrier Falls in Decisive Victory: [National Desk]." New York Times, Nov 05. https://ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/newspapers/obama-racial-barrier-falls-decisive-victory/docview/433985776/se-2?accountid=10223.

[vi] C-SPAN. Accessed April 26, 2021. https://www.c-span.org/video/?282164-2/barack-obama-victory-speech.

[vii] "November 5, 2008 (Page P3 NY)." 2008.New York Times (2008 - Recent), Nov 05, 1. https://ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/newspapers/november-5-2008-page-p3-ny/docview/1933766430/se-2?accountid=10223.

"This American Moment — the Surprises."

Nagourney, Adam. 2008. "Obama: Racial Barrier Falls in Decisive Victory: [National Desk].

Dan Balz - Washington Post,Staff Writer. 2008. "Hard Choices and Challenges Follow Triumph." The Washington Post, Nov 05. https://ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/newspapers/hard-choices-challenges-follow-triumph/docview/410220970/se-2?accountid=10223.

Lambrecht, Bill. 2008. "YES, HE DID OBAMA MARCHES INTO HISTORY MESSAGE TO THE WORLD 'New Dawn of American Leadership is at Hand'." St.Louis Post - Dispatch, Nov 05. https://ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/newspapers/yes-he-did-obama-marches-into-history-message/docview/403195776/se-2?accountid=10223.

Mayes, Eric. 2008. "OBAMA WINS." Philadelphia Tribune, Nov 05, 3-1A,2A,3A. https://ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/newspapers/obama-wins/docview/337868228/se-2?accountid=10223.

[viii] Nagourney, Adam. 2008. "Obama: Racial Barrier Falls in Decisive Victory: [National Desk].

[ix] "This American Moment — the Surprises."

[x] "Obama's Historic Journey shows how Far U.S. has Come."2008.Usa Today, Nov 05. https://ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/newspapers/obamas-historic-journey-shows-how-far-u-s-has/docview/409042436/se-2?accountid=10223.

[xi] Nagourney, Adam. 2008. "Obama: Racial Barrier Falls in Decisive Victory: [National Desk].

Lambrecht, Bill. 2008. "YES, HE DID OBAMA MARCHES INTO HISTORY MESSAGE TO THE WORLD 'New Dawn of American Leadership is at Hand'.

Dan Balz - Washington Post,Staff Writer. 2008. "Hard Choices and Challenges Follow Triumph." 

"November 5, 2008 (Page P3 NY)."

[xii] "November 6, 2008 (Page A17)." 2008.Wall Street Journal (2008 - Recent), Nov 06, 1. https://ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/newspapers/november-6-2008-page-a17/docview/1940338709/se-2?accountid=10223.

[xiii] "November 6, 2008 (Page A17)."

[xiv] Isaksen, Judy L. "Obamas Rhetorical Shift: Insights for Communication Studies." Communication Studies 62, no. 4 (2011): 456-71. doi:10.1080/10510974.2011.588082.

[xv] "Full Text: Obama's Victory Speech." BBC News. November 05, 2008. Accessed April 26, 2021. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7710038.stm.

[xvi] "Full Text: Obama's Victory Speech."

[xvii] Ibid.

[xviii] Ibid.

[xix] Ibid.

[xx] Ibid.

[xxi] Ibid.

[xxii] Ibid.

[xxiii] Ibid.

[xxiv] Ibid.

[xxv] Ibid.

[xxvi] Ibid.

[xxvii] Ibid.

[xxviii] Ibid.

[xxix] Ibid.

[xxx] Ibid.

[xxxi] Sweet, Derek, and Margret Mccue-Enser. "Constituting “the People” as Rhetorical Interruption: Barack Obama and the Unfinished Hopes of an Imperfect People." Communication Studies 61, no. 5 (2010): 602-22. doi:10.1080/10510974.2010.514679.

[xxxii] "Full Text: Obama's Victory Speech."

[xxxiii] Coe, Kevin, and Michael Reitzes. "Obama on the Stump: Features and Determinants of a Rhetorical Approach." Presidential Studies Quarterly 40, no. 3 (2010): 391-413. doi:10.1111/j.1741-5705.2010.03777.x.

Sweet, Derek, and Margret Mccue-Enser. "Constituting “the People” as Rhetorical Interruption: Barack Obama and the Unfinished Hopes of an Imperfect People." 

[xxxiv] "The Forest of Rhetoric." Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric. Accessed April 26, 2021. http://rhetoric.byu.edu/.

[xxxv] Coe, Kevin, and Michael Reitzes. "Obama on the Stump: Features and Determinants of a Rhetorical Approach."

[xxxvi] "Full Text: Obama's Victory Speech."

[xxxvii] Ibid.

[xxxviii] Ibid.

[xxxix] Ibid.

[xl] "The Forest of Rhetoric."

[xli] Ibid.

[xlii] "Full Text: Obama's Victory Speech."

[xliii] "The Forest of Rhetoric."

[xliv] "Full Text: Obama's Victory Speech."

[xlv] Ibid.

[xlvi] Ibid.

[xlvii] Ibid.

[xlviii] Ibid.

[xlix] Ibid.

[l] Ibid.

[li] Eidenmuller, Michael E. John F. Kennedy -- Inaugural Address. Accessed April 26, 2021. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkinaugural.htm.