In August 28, 2008; the incoming president strode forward in Invesco Field to accept the Democratic nomination as the ideal candidate for the presidential race that would later see him become the 44th President America. The central theme and topic for this speech was first to accept the nomination for the presidential race from his Party and to restore hope to millions of young as well as old people across the globe. In this speech, Obama’s main audience was the voters whereby; he used the opportunity to launch his 2008 presidential campaign theme of “Together We Can”. This was a phrase that Obama was suing to restore hope to many Americans and most importantly, to restore broken policies as well as politics in the White House under George Washington’s rule. On this day, August 28, 2008 Obama addressed over 84,000 crowd where he promised to restore America’s pride and most importantly to make right the policies that George Washington had failed to honor. During the speech, Obama was quoted as saying that these were defining moments. One of the fundamental intentions of Obama’s acceptance speech was to line as many voters behind his presidential speech and donor (funders) as possible in a bid to win the heavily contested campaign. Obama’s acceptance speech in 2008 may have been more about getting as many votes in this presidential bid, however; a keen listening of the speech reveals that it was about hope, inspiration and restoration of America’s pride because much of the speech was filled with such facts.
There was a strong use of literary imagery that was used in Obama’s 2008 presidential nomination acceptance speech. For example; the speech portrayed an image of an individual who had suffered the pain most Americans were suffering form and a person who had come to rescue them from such agonies/sufferings. Obama’s speech mainly targeted millions of Americans who were suffering from the tumbling economy, high interest rates of mortgage as well as high-cost of health care. The speech was used to serve as savior of these people. People who had suffered for a long time due to failed policies from George Washington’s policies that had created more problems to the ordinary American citizens than it had promised. Based on the number of votes that Obama garnered after the counting of the votes, we can confidently say that the speech did miracles and that it worked well and according to the expectations of many who had attended the Thursday acceptance speech.
The tone of Barack Obama’s August 28, 2008 acceptance speech can be defined as humorous, serious, as well as joyful. There are more than a few facts that indicate why the tone in this speech was joyful. For example; the speech marked a major turning point in America’s political history which was joyful in many ways. It seemed and was almost impossible for anyone to believe or think that an African-American would ever win the chance to contest on Democratic ticket and therefore; the nomination of Obama as the ideal presidential candidate for the Democrats was a major step towards realizing unalienable rights to Black people and the world at large.
What makes a speech engaging as well as humorous is the ability to engage your audience.When you deliver an engaging and humorous speech, there is always the audience rapport whereby; you find the audience is bright eyed and are eager to hear what you have to say next. This is what Obama’s acceptance speech in 2008 was based on. In his speech, Obama knew exactly what mattered most to voters and that is the area where he concentrated mostly on such as matters to do with health care, education as well as the economy. During the time of the acceptance speech; America was in turmoil. The economy was fast falling apart and this is what Obama put most of his concerns on by assuring his supporters that under his leadership he would stabilize the economy again. This fact can be cited as one of the main reason why his acceptance speech was both joyful as well as serious and that is why the speech was so engaging to the audience such that they were willing and eager to hear what he had to say next. The economy of a country is vital, however; the American economy is more vital and this is what makes the speech serious. America’s economy controls the world and getting someone who is willing to risk his reputation for the sake of stabilizing it like Obama is rare which is why his 2008 acceptance speech was humorous, serious as well as joyful and engaged most of his target audience.
The struggling economy dominated most of Obama’s acceptance speech. During this time; the American economy was n the verge of crumbling and Obama took a great advantage of this situation. There were some major doubts about the future of America’s economy and during his speech, Obama promised those in attendance that he would make it his business to see that the economy gained its strength and would implement policies that would get the economy back on its feet unlike Washington’s policies that had driven the economy into the gravely situation. The speech was well constructed to speak about things that were challenging to most people such as the need for good healthcare even to those who had minimal wages. According to the speech, Obama acknowledged that these challenges were not as a result of the government’s inability to handle such crisis rather was a result of bad planning as well as poor implementation of policies from the previous government. Due to such challenges, Obama in his speech promised that he would ensure that every American citizen would have access to good education, increase teacher’s salaries as well as provide the American people with quality health care whilst; protecting their future of Social Security's financial.
CONCLUSION:
The 2008 acceptance speech by Obama was meant to address issues that were challenging to American such as economic crisis, good health care, teachers’ salary increment and access to good and a good future Social Security's financial. The speech was both humorous, serious and at the same enjoyable because it marked a major turning point in America’s political scene by giving birth to the first African-American president in America.
...(download the rest of the essay above)