Obama's State of the Union Speech

The presidential state of the union address has traditionally served as an opportunity for the president to lay out his annual agenda as well as to elaborate on some of the tasks his administration will be trying to focus on. This widely viewed speech allows the leader of this nation to explain and convince to his people what he is doing for this nation and how it will benefit them. In president Obama’s most recent state of the union address he accomplishes just that, and in one of the most persuasive fashions I've seen in a while. The speech's success can be strongly traced to the effective use of rhetorical strategies.

One of the point’s Obama focused the most on in his speech was the success of what he called ‘middle class economics’. He used this term as an umbrella for all the economic and social policies he executed that were aimed at strengthening and growing the middle class. He used an appeal to logos to validate his claims for their success, stating facts and statistics as evidence. When the rhetorical device of logos is used effectively it gives the audience clear and logical reasoning to be persuaded. Obama uses this to his full advantage and in turn delivers a speech with strong legitimacy and persuasion.