The origin of my essay is the victory speech of Barack Obama in 2008. The essay is an attempt to illustrate the correlation between discourse and politics in varies of aspects and perspectives. I hope the reader can enhance the skills of persuasive power in discourse. Since in the political views, nothing is coincident. We can use the persuasive power to assure the thing is going to the right track of your plan. I found there are varies persuasive appeals in the victory’s speech.
Language is powerful. Besides, politics is based on the influencing power. If the politicians master persuasive strategies well, the audiences may take act and believe the politician’s moral, political and cultural values. Discourse is one of the greatest means that may alter the audience’s thinking and behavior. “Politics is one of the social domains whose practices are virtually exclusively discursive”(Discourse and Politics, 2009). Discourse construction has a vital role in politics. In the Obama’s victory speech of 2008, he used the paragraph structure, lexical and tones with a formal form to eye-catching the listeners. The victory speech is different from our daily dialogue, which has a clear and accurate message of changing the state. To enhance the efficiency of delivering message, he used a tight structure and sophisticated lexical.
There are mainly three positions in the politics field. They are the dominant hegemonic positions, the negotiated positions and oppositional positions. Take the Article 23 in Hong Kong as an example. The left wings supported it; therefore, they held the dominant hegemonic positions. The right wings are the oppositional positions. However, there are a few people seem apathetic about it. They are the negotiated group. During the speech, Obama tried to construct the coalition formation that combining the three prevailing groups. The use of language has the ideological effect. He conveyed his ideology coherently through texts. Beside, he was manipulating the rhetoric, persuasive strategies of Aristotle’s ethos, logos and pathos. They are the pillars of public speech. His wordings in the speech demonstrated he express the explicit and firm aspects. In the following parts, I am going to have the textual analysis in the speech.
In the opening, Obama change the audience’s attitude from neutral to supportive. He solidified the credibility of himself and used the strategies of ethos. It is the orator’s personal appeals. “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our Founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.” (Transcript: 'This Is Your Victory,' Says Obama, 2008) The president held a strong belief in America future. He ensured possibilities of American dream and the democracy of USA. He wanted the audience to believe in him, he tried to answer that he may lead the followers...
