This year's State of the Union address was seen by many as a wild success in the department of speeches; Obama successfully employed rhetorical techniques that emphasized his points, delivering each line with finesse. As always, the address was a heavily nationalistic presentation, drumming up a lot of the 'F*ck yeah, America!' spirit that people love.
Throughout the entire speech, Obama pairs his diction with ethos. He refers to the people of our country as "we," and through this assertion, his speech solidifies that although he may be our leader, he is one of us. Unity through all classes and lifestyles was a key theme of the address, making everyone feel involved and drawn in.
Appealing to logos, Obama was sure to incorporate impressive statistics; the 81% reduction in troops stationed in Afghanistan and the middle east was a figure that everyone could rejoice over, regardless of political allegiances. Statistics aside, he further employed ethos with ironic comedy, stating that more must be expected of the government. Obama criticizes the acceptance of the government for not screwing up, pushing us, the people of the United States, to not be content unless forward progress is being made. Continuing his simple, logical approach, Barack spoke on equal pay, denouncing the decade old pattern that women get paid less than men for the same work. Through these straightforward, easily agreeable points, Obama created an address that was based in principle, rather than trying to finesse his way around different political interests.
Really, the address is almost all logos based. It was rather unconventional for a State of the Union, which in my experience have typically been more politically loaded. The impressive lack of this content was very strategical; the speech was crafted to appeal to all Americans, either through support of the troops, a rising economy, equal treatment, and firm opposition to terrorists and those who threaten us as a country.
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