yes, we love the underdog.
Much has been made of Barack Obama’s quest for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Elections. While Clinton loyalists vehemently dismiss his bid as nonsensical due to his inexperience and consequent incapability to fill such colossal shoes, countless others ( including myself ) are firmly backing him to succeed, romanticized by the notion of his humble background and his subsequent meteoric rise to present status, a testament of his character.
Indeed, Obama’s forte is his ( a key feature of his drive for a successful campaign ) exceptional mastery of the art of persuasion and effective speaking ( Rhetoric ), delivering speeches with rousing passion and convictive confidence; Clinton has a contradistinctively more measured and calculated approach and certainly pales in comparison to her democratic compatroit in this area. To put it blatantly, u could bottle Billary’s speeches and sell them as a cure for insomia.
While Obama does give sufficient focus to reason ( Logos ) in dictating factual information about his future plans should he assume the Presidential seat, his overwhelming persuasive charisma is rooted in Ethos ( the persuasive appeal of his personality ) and Pathos ( how he appeals to the emotion of his audience ). I for one, am a great admirer of his charismatic ways, and enjoy reviewing his numerous speeches. His modest beginnings make him a popular choice among Americans from the lower income groups, as he would concievably understand the struggles and concerns of the nation’s impoverished and the average American. Futhermore, his confession of having used alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during his teenage years to “push questions of who I was out of my mind” ( referring to his African American heritage ), does much to inspire confidence in his forthright character and courageous honesty, emphasizing his appeal as a fellow regular person ( the ’people’s’ candidate so to speak ) who has made his fair share of unfortunate mistakes and fought his own demons of social repression.
He is brilliant at spontaneously styling his verbal deliveries to encompass invigorating phrases which effectively stir up his audience. In the subsequent enclosed speech in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, he expresses several ideas with succint ‘one-liners’; one of which is his view on the economy as being ‘good to wallstreet, not so good to mainstreet’. Once again, a signature feature of Obama’s campaign - the wellness of Blue-collared America - is evident here, and to great effect. With the people, of the people and for the people; that is Obama’s message to America, and even I, a foreign entity, am moved by it.
Following the greatest disaster to hit America, Hurricane Bush, I pray that America will get it right this time round; electing Osama..i mean Obama will definitely not be a mistake. The following video shows exactly why Barack is this term’s popular choice.
MK said,
March 14, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Hi. Loved seeing the lighter side of Obama, something that we don’t see often enough from ‘important’ people. However, I’m rather suspiscious of Obama’s true substance and qualifications. Perhaps the more experienced Clinton would be a better choice for presidency.