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Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Speech and Rhetorical Studies
President Barack Obama And The Commencement Of A New Perspective On Epideictic Speeches, Milene Ortega Ribeiro
President Barack Obama And The Commencement Of A New Perspective On Epideictic Speeches, Milene Ortega Ribeiro
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
Commencement speakers are typically expected to praise students and motivate them. When the commencement speaker is a President, the expectation is different. This thesis investigated the functions of epideictic address in light of the rhetorical presidency doctrine. Close textual analysis of the three most controversial commencement speeches delivered by President Barack Obama revealed that the challenge of fulfilling the expectations of a commencement address, while responding to rhetorical problems, required the President to adopt complex rhetorical strategies. The predominant strategies included humor, strategic use of rhetorical presence, and ideological identification. The President used strategies that allowed him to be the …
Kairotic Strategema: A Rhetorical Investigation Of Barack Obama’S 2009 Health Care Address, Serena M. Sánchez-Wilson
Kairotic Strategema: A Rhetorical Investigation Of Barack Obama’S 2009 Health Care Address, Serena M. Sánchez-Wilson
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
This thesis examines President Barack Obama’s address given on September 9, 2009 entitled “Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care.” In order to address various situational and contextual elements such as legislative ambiguity, national expense, bureaucratic intrusion, abortion, euthanasia and illegal immigration, President Obama opportunely enters the conversation at a particular time so as to benefit his agenda of passing health care reform. Revolving around the notion of kairotic strategema, which includes the understating of deliberative address as well as the possession of kairos and phronesis, I assert that this aids President …