An Analysis Of Conceptual Metaphors In Obama’s State Of Union Address From2009to2012

The data analyzed in this paper are four SUA, spanning from2009-2012, byPresident Obama since his inauguration. The present paper intends to find out andanalyze the conceptual metaphors employed in Barack Obama’s State of the UnionAddresses, investigating the ways how Obama uses metaphors to express theabstract political problems into specific ones to make the public understand andaccept. This paper is based on Lakoff’s theory of conceptual metaphor. Firstly,identifying the conceptual metaphors employed in Obama’s State of Union Address,then classifying them into three major types, that is, structural metaphor,orientational metaphor, and ontological metaphor. Based on this categorization, themajor conceptual metaphors are analyzed: Journey Metaphor, ConstructionMetaphor, Weather Metaphor, Competition Metaphor, War Metaphor, HumanMetaphor, Family Metaphor, and Religion Metaphor. Through comprehensiveinvestigation, the covert intentions of Obama applying these metaphors in his Stateof Union Address are demonstrated and his political alteration throughout four years.The findings in the study are enormously beneficial in disclosing how politiciansemploy the metaphor to attain consensus with the masses.