English 102 Blog #2

In his speech, Senator Obama used arguments based on emotion (pathos).  For example when he chose not take his colleagues advice about brushing off what Mr. Keyes said about him being elected because, "Jesus Christ would not vote for Barack Obama. Christ would not vote for Barack Obama because Barack Obama has behaved in a way that it is inconceivable for Christ to have behaved." (Connection between Faith and Politics) Senator Obama did the complete opposite and did take that statement to heart and he uses this life story to show how he felt and to get a reaction out of his audience members by making them feel how he felt.  Another good rhetorical strategy used by Senator Obama is his use of arguments based on facts and reasoning (logos).  When he throws out numbers and gives statistics such as saying that about 90 percent of Americans believe in God that is a great way of catching the audience's attention and keeping it.  When people are given numbers and statistics to be shown a point, I know for me, it really catches my attention and I want to learn more whether the statistics really make sense or not.  When I find out I am not the only person who loves bacon but that "x" percent of other American's love bacon as well it makes the world feel much smaller than it really is.  It's a way to make others feel not so alone.  Using these types of strategies in any type of speech really aides in creating a successful speech.  

Blog #1- Obama's Speech

In The Connection between Faith and Politics, Senator Obama makes the point that there needs to be more faith associated with politics.  That does not mean it has to be all about the faith but we need to have a balance between the two subjects.  He uses many examples from his own experiences that aide in him making his point.  One of these examples used was him running in the Senate General Election against Mr. Alan Keyes.  He goes on to explain how Mr. Keyes says "Jesus Christ would not vote for Barack Obama. Christ would not vote for Barack Obama because Barack Obama has behaved in a way that it is inconceivable for Christ to have behaved."  Senator Obama’s colleagues told him not to take this to heart but it was very difficult to listen to their advice.  Later on Senator Obama makes a statement saying “we live in a pluralistic society, that I can't impose my own religious views on another, that I was running to be the U.S. Senator of Illinois and not the Minister of Illinois.”  That was the end of that.  Throughout his speech, Senator Obama gives many examples of how religious views playing apart in politics could be beneficial.  He uses many statistics about how many people in the U.S. are religious and what religion they practice.  He also adds in many personal stories about his family and how his parents were not very religious and neither was he as a kid.  But, later in his life is when he found the faith and chose to become Christian.  He goes back and forth between our government and now and our government back in the days where religion did play a huge part in politics which gave his speech oomph.