Obama's Death Speech Rhetorical Devices

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tion of Osama bin Laden’s Death On May 1, 2011, at a late hour in the evening, every news station was reporting of an upcoming speech from the White House. Before President Obama actually came on the television, it was eventually leaked that Osama bin Laden had been killed. Soon after this information was released, President Obama gave a speech confirming the death of bin Laden. His ten minute speech was something that the American people needed to hear. After ten long years, some justice had finally been served and Obama was able to inform America of this great success. Throughout his speech, Obama incorporated various rhetorical devices, such as ethos, logos, and pathos in order to make his speech effective and memorable.…show more content…
He is in a hallway of the White House, dressed nicely with a single American flag pin on his chest. The presence of the presidential seal also establishes credibility. As a result of this setting, Obama is able to be viewed as a believable person. Also the fact that he is the president helps his credibility. But because of his appearance he is able to give a strong speech, emphasizing the importance of bin Laden’s death. Not only do the scene and location of the speech add to its effectiveness, but Obama also uses his speech to make himself credible. Within the first three minutes, he stresses the fact that he was set on getting bin Laden, dead or alive. In order to stress this he simply says that his top priority in the war with al-Qaeda was killing bin Laden. This clearly is an attempt by Obama to gain the favor of the American people. This is one that most people can agree on, and if the president also shares this view then he can very easily be viewed as being a part of American society and not just the President. Instead of making himself seem like he is above the America citizens, he is appealing to the people by making it seem like he too was affected by September 11. By stressing the importance of capturing bin Laden, Obama is trying to seem more personable to the audience, and also uses this to establish pathos within his speech as well. Throughout the speech Obama makes several…show more content…
All throughout the speech, Obama made several references to information that supported his ultimate decision to capture bin Laden. In the beginning he gives information regarding the fact that he was given some leaked information pertaining to the location of bin Laden and that this allowed him to progress in the finding and capturing of bin Laden. Obama also adds that he has spoken with the president of Pakistan. He then goes on to explain why he did so, in order to provide some explanation for the reason that he was creating an ally with Pakistan. At the end of his speech, Obama also goes on to say that “So Americans understand the costs of war. Yet as a country, we will never tolerate our security being threatened, nor stand idly by when our people have been killed.” This justifies his reasoning for approving the attack to capture, and ultimately kill, bin Laden. It is also providing a good reason for killing bin Laden, as if his acts weren’t
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