Presidential Rhetoric in
the Age of Obama
Week 14, Day 3: Is it All About the Delivery?
The Rhetorical Modes
of Barack Obama
• Poetic mode - Used most often in campaign
speeches or in major epideictic moments.
• Professor mode - used most often when he
is talking about policy.
• Standup mode - used on late night
television or in front of kids or “friends.”
Poetic Mode
•
The poetic mode of delivery used by Obama combines a
grand style, full of classical tropes, with the rhythms and
cadences of the black church.
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Anaphora - repetition at the start of consecutive phrases.
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Antithesis - use of contrasting words and phrases.
Alliteration - using words that begin (or end) with similar
sounds.
Epistrophe - repetition at appears at the end of phrase.
Transcendent Appeal - We can rise above our current
condition.
Patriotism Speech, June 30, 2008
Independence, MO
Professorial Mode
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The teaching and persuading mode used by Obama
when he is trying to make complex ideas clear
without sacrificing their basic complexity.
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Multiple perspectives / “positionally.”
Embracing the paradox of the binary synthesis.
History as the best guide and form of evidence.
Strong speech organization that typically uses a
problem / solution; cause to effect; chronological;
explicit topical structure (with numbers).
Standup Mode
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In this mode, President Obama often sounds the most
“Black,” although his blackness is less about race than
about reflecting the norms of popular culture.
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Self-deprecating humor
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Street smarts
The ironic observer or hip critic persona.
Improvisational ideas and delivery.
Jokes based on his knowledge of the audience or
the situation.