A Comparative Study Of Barack Obama’s 2009 And 2013 Inaugural Addresses In The Light Of The Theory Of Rhetorical Situation

Political Speech is an important part of public speaking, and also plays an indispensable role in the political arena. When delivering the political speeches, the politicians, particularly those who have a reputation among people for eloquence, are taking full advantage of this powerful weapon. With regard to the domestic and foreign policies, the orators are expected to manifest the political stance, state the political views and publicize the political principles on behalf of their government or political community. The main purpose is to attack and contradict the political opponents,persuade and inspire the audiences, to win their support and ultimately to fulfill their political ambition. US President Barack Obama is such a great political orator. His charm exudes throughout his speeches--- passionate, informative, sincere and faithful. It is by the virtue of his rhetorical convincing capacity that he tears down his competitors one after another, and eventually wins the trust and support of the American people.In the light of Lloyd Bitzer’s theory of rhetorical situation and using the three elements of this theory, namely, the exigence, the audience and the constraints, as the main theoretical framework, this thesis makes an in-depth study of Obama’s 2009 and2013 presidential inaugural addresses, which are generally regarded as the culmination of successful inaugurals. This thesis adopts the method of literature research, and makes the qualitative and comparative analysis of these two inaugural addresses. The thesis sets out to answer the following two questions. Question one, what changes in rhetorical situation, especially in terms of exigence, audience and constraints, can be observed and reflected after making a comparison between 2009 and 2013 Obama’s inaugural addressed? Question two, what kind of impact do these changes of elements of rhetorical situation bring about on the rhetorical strategies of Obama’s 2013 inaugural address? This thesis seeks to throw some new light on the occasional features of rhetoric,the dynamic features of the rhetorical situation, and to provide a new perspective for the training and teaching of public speaking in the classroom.This thesis is divided into six chapters. Chapter one is a general introduction of the study. It first introduces the background of this research and then presents the purposes and significance of the study. Finally it outlines the organization of the thesis.Chapter two is the literature review of this research. First, it introduces the function of presidential inaugural address, and then reviews the previous studies of Obama’s inaugural addresses at home and abroad from six different perspectives including thepublic speaking technique, the rhetoric, the systemic functional grammar, the intertextuality, the critical metaphoric analysis and the pragmatics. The third chapter makes an analysis of the relationship between rhetoric and political speeches, the first part of which involves the features of rhetoric and Aristotle’s theory of “Three Appeals”illustrated with examples whereby the relationship between rhetoric and the art of persuasion is clarified. The second part analyzes the persuasion in political campaign speeches. Chapter four contains the theoretical framework and describes the methodology adopted in the thesis. This chapter also ushers in some critiques of Bitzer’s theory as a conceding point to objectively justify its effectiveness in accounting for the rationality of the rhetorical strategies observed, and finally provides a working definition of the rhetorical situation. The fifth chapter gives a detailed comparative analysis of Obama’s 2009 and 2013 inaugural addresses based upon Bitzer’s theory of the rhetorical situation, which is the core part of the entire thesis. The last chapter concludes the thesis by summarizing the major findings and acknowledging the limitations of the research before putting forward some constructive suggestions for future studies in this academic area.The major conclusion of this thesis can be boiled down as follows. In the first place, the three appeals bear an undeniable part in Obama’s two inaugural addresses. By means of logos, ethos and pathos, Obama has successfully established himself as an overwhelmingly positive image in front of the audiences, rational, logical, reliable,intellectual and responsible. In the second place, through the detailed comparative analysis of Obama’s 2009 and 2013 inaugural addresses based upon Bitzer’s theory of rhetorical situation, it is no difficulty at all to perceive how the three interrelated elements, exigence, audience and constraints, employed by Obama, consciously or unconsciously, find their access to the successful persuasion and solid establishment of the connection with the voters. Rhetoric, we have every reason to believe, is a popular word haphazardly highlighted in political campaign seasons. Candidates must learn to take advantage of rhetoric to fulfill their political ambition, and rhetoric depends on the language to build up the clear and effective messages for the audiences and form a specific rhetorical situation.