Obama Victory Speech Analysis

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The structural devices used by Obama also add to the optimism that he is trying to create using his speech. His speech starts with a very effective hook which engages the reader right at the start. He asks the rhetorical question “Is there anyone out there who still doubts.”. This shows his confidence and appeals to a wide audience, (his doubters and supporters). Likewise, he uses inclusive pronouns throughout his speech (we, our, etc.). This creates a sense of togetherness between Obama and the People. It makes it seem that Obama stands for the people and, this time there will be a combined effort to improve the country instead of a one sided one. It makes the people feel more welcome and included in the process. Obama also anchors across time, comparing the past and the present in a parallel manner. For example, in the in the first paragraph, he mentions ‘our founders’ (past), then ‘our time’ (present), and finally ‘tonight’ (future). Another thing worth noting is the structure of the paragraphs that Obama uses. Most of them start with negativity and later transform into a positive outcome. For instance, the fourth paragraph starts with the words “cynical, fearful and doubtful’. Therese are very negative words and suggest fear and cowardness, which is opposite to the American motto of being positive and strong, hence Obama ends the paragraph in a positive note by using the words “hope’ and ‘better day”. This gives sense of victory and positivity. This makes the audience full of hope. Another example of this would be the seventh paragraph. Here Obama mentions all the hardships people have had to face in order to reach this moment (“bitter cold and scorching heat”), which then, ends with “This is your victory”. This makes people cherish the moment and gives the illusion of a dream come true. Further Obama ends a lot of paragraphs with the words ‘America’ and USA” for example the third and fifth paragraph. This gives a sense of patriotism and pride, in the short pauses between the paragraphs. This ends up making his speech positive and impactful.

With this speech, Obama successfully stats his campaign in a positive note by evoking positivity and hope in his audience, along with pride in their country. This helped him gain the support of everyone, including his doubters and led to him having a successful term as president.