1. 1 Biancardi
Dominique Biancardi
101596214
English 101/502
Professor Wood
September 16, 2012
Obama’s Acceptance Speech, 2012
In Barack Obama’s Acceptance Speech at the Democratic National Convention, he
addressed America about the upcoming election. President Obama grasped ahold of America’s
attention by purposely discussing how in debt America was. Obama explained how it was up to
him and the government to provide for those in debt by cutting tax rates and bringing jobs back
into America. In his speech, the president used several tactics to state the reasons why he should
be re-elected for president. Obama touched Americans emotionally, using pathos, by providing
them a sense of hope for a future without debt, and by addressing specific groups personally. He
logically, using logos, stated his reasons for why he should be re-elected by informing America
about our recent problems, giving examples of how, together, we could overcome those
problems. He also provided strong examples of why his plan to “fix” America would work.
President Barack Obama also didn’t fail to remind America, using ethos, of his past
accomplishments in his first term of presidency, saying America should trust him because of
those accomplishments.

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Barack Obama strongly delivered his point by appealing to America emotionally. “I
refuse to ask students to pay for college or get children out of head start programs to eliminate
millions of Americans who are poor, elderly, or disabled. I am not going along with that. And I
will never, I will never turn medicare into a voucher.” By saying this, millions of Americans felt
the emotional impact Obama was trying to get across. Parents, college students, and the elderly,
who felt they were entitled to retirement and social security, felt a great surge of hope,
encouragement and assurance from those words of Obama.
While Obama appealed to Americans emotionally, he also appealed to them logically.
Obama used legitimate facts and logical reasoning to assure America that, by re-electing him,
America would be in good hands. He mentioned that we would ne in greater hands then in his
first term because he claimed to be a “changed man.” To back up his statements, Obama gave
America less assuring, but needed to know facts. “Now I won’t pretend that the path I’m offering
is quick or easy. You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear, you elected me to tell
you the truth. The truth is, it will take more than a few years to solve challenges built up over
decades. It will require effort, shared responsibility, and the kind of bold persistent
experimentation that Frank Roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse thyan this one,”
explained Barack Obama.
President Obama did not fail to achieve addressing many different groups of Americans.
Not only did he address the emotionally and logically concerned Americans, he also addressed
the Americans who doubted him by reminding them of his past accomplishments in his first term
of presidency. If there were citizens who doubted his previous statements in his Acceptance
Speech, president Obama may have eased their uncertainty by saying, “Four years ago, I
promised to end the war in Iraq. We did. I promised to re-focus on the terrorists who actually

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attacked us on 9/11 and we have. We have blunted the Taliban’s momentum in Afghanistan and,
in 2014, our longest war will be over. A new tower rises above the New York skyline, al Qaeda
is on the path to defeat, and Osama Bin Laden is dead.” By reminding Americans of his
successfulness, President Barck Obama earned votes for the upcoming election. Obama also
briefly reminded Americans of his education history and other previous accomplishments, aside
from being President of the United States.
In Barack Obama’s Acceptance Speech at the Democratic National Convention, he used
the tactics ethos, pathos, and logos and he used them well. By using these tactics, Barack Obama
addressed millions of individuals across America. To assure himself votes, Obama mentioned a
lot of problems in our economy and gave strong, logical, examples of how he was planning to fix
them. Barack Obama wanted to reach out to America personally, in every direction, and he
succeeded. Probably, Americans respected and decided to vote for Obama because of the
statements he repeated, numerous times, about Americans being the ones who could really make
a change and a difference in America.
“Yes, our path is harder, but it leads to a better place. Yes, our road is longer, but we
travel this road together. We don’t turn back! We leave no one behind. We pull each other up,
we draw strength from our victories, and we learn from our mistakes, but we keep our eyes
fixedin that distant horizon knowing that providence is with us and that we are surely blessed to
be citizens of the greatest nation on Earth,” is what Obama said to close his Acceptance Speech.
President Obama inspired a great number of Americans with that closing statement and he
earned a lot of supporters as well.

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In conclusion, President Barack Obama’s Acceptance Speech for the Democratic
National Convention persuaded and convinced millions of people throughout the United States
of America to vote for him. He used ethos, pathos, and logos to sell his reasoning for why we
should consider re-electing him for president. By speaking to Americans emotionally, logically,
and confidently, Obama persuaded many Americans to believe and vote for him. He even went
as far as, jokingly, reasoning why his fellow candidates would not be able to “do the job”.
President Barack Obama achieved his main goal with his speech, wich was to obtain voted for
the up-coming election. Obama wanted to sell hope and assurance to the people of the United
States and he wanted Americans to know that he would make the U.S. a better place.