Michelle Obama - The Rhetorician

President Obama is considered a true and important rhetorician of our time. With his ability to communicate and captivate people, he was able to bring people together through a common cause and purpose and give new hope and meaning to the word ‘change’. However, President Obama is not the only member of his family with the ability to strongly connect to their audience; little attention is ever focused on Michelle Obama as being truly masterful with her words. Yet, she proved to everyone during the National Democratic Convention that she does, in fact, have the keen ability to connect to her audience and make herself highly relatable. She addresses the 4 Principles of the Rhetoric Primer as developed by Dr. Peter Marston successfully to generate a truly compelling and empowering speech.

Advisory – What is her advice to the audience?

The first of the principles relates to the idea of giving advice to an audience, which can reflect a world view and demonstrates ones personal values. In any society we always have ways of arranging our vales through the speeches that we give. In essence, it is a projection of ourselves and the cultural norms that have not only shaped us but have helped shaped the standards of society. Michelle importantly does an excellent job at not preaching to her audience but working to relate to them to send a clear message of hope and a dream fulfilled.

In her speech, she works to emphasize how the new Administration is working for the individual. In essence, it is a clear reassurance that the support they have received will be returned by the restored hope they had promised to the general public. Towards the end of her speech she emphasizes the idea of ‘hope’. In this way, she states how Barack “knows the tread that connects us: our belief in America’s promise, our commitment to our children’s future – he knows that the thread is strong enough to hold us together as one nation even when we don’t disagree”. This is a very important sentence. She here is acknowledging that even though you might not vote for Obama, he is committed to unifying us a people. She is recognizing our differences and our variable opinions, and emphasizing that despite that we are to remain as a cohesive unit. She emphasizes that change will come and most importantly implies that the future of ‘the children’ and the nation will be protected.

Addressed – Who is her audience and what are their concerns?

Another key element to any successful piece of rhetoric is the idea of giving life to a message. Here, you address the audience as listeners, and you make inferences about them to connect them to the message that you are trying to convey to them. The First Lady does an excellent job at accomplishing this feat. In this instance Michelle starts off by telling a story. She begins to relate to the audience almost immediately by addressing her brother. In this instance, the audience is the American public. She is not only addressing those who support her husband, but it is necessary to confront and comfort her critics, so it is very important what types of messages she is trying to send, and for what purpose she is sending those messages.

In terms of confronting her critics, she is not so much attempting to be aggressive but rather emphasizing the accomplishments that Barack has completed. Throughout the campaign there were many concerns about his intentions as well as his experience level. Michelle works to put these fears to rest. She emphasizes his commitment to public service, stating that instead of going to Wall Street and perhaps being greedy he instead went to serve the community. She makes a point to individualize and almost give life to those particular people as she exemplifies the hard-working, blue collar Americans individually that he has worked to help. She here, is reaching out to every American – the blue collar workers, the people in the high school gyms, etc. She is attempting to include the general (and it seems more concentrated on the working) public.

It is significant to the election to make the speech as inclusive as possible. In many instances in the speech (almost all) when she is making a reference to the nation, she uses examples of individuals exe: the mother he met who is worried about her child in Iraq. She does this to emphasize this issues that are on the minds of the general public and uses them to notably express that they are the concerns of the new administration. During the election Iraq was a concern, education was a concern and so was health care. In her speech, she names all of these issues and uses people to make those issues more intimate to her listeners. To her critics, she emphasizes Barack as a strong and compassionate leader who is truly and genuinely concerned about the well being of the people he encounters.

Another thing that was potentially interesting is how she addresses Barack. She describes that when she met him he had his “funny name” and “lived across the continent in Hawaii” their families were similar. She then goes on to emphasize his relation to the hard working blue collar America and even describes his single mother working to support them. His citizenship and his name were two concerns during his campaign and she addresses them but quickly dispels them as being a concern. She continues on to emphasize that he is more relatable then people may realize.

Situational – What are the ‘needs’ of the audience that bring the speech into being?

In a given piece of rhetoric, you need to respond to the needs present. In this instance, this is obviously very significant with regards to the situation. In this particular situation she is trying to do two things: first, she is trying to introduce herself to her audience, and secondly she is trying to empower the message of the administration and bring confidence to the listeners. They ‘need’ to understand Barack as a compassionate leader and by Michelle showing compassion as a mother and a wife. She needs to give a face and a soul to the campaign and truly bring a sense of calm and confidence to her audience.

Importantly, she cyclically brings into focus once again the message and dream of Martin Luther King Jr.’s idea of ‘the dream’. Of course, this election is significant due in part to this dream being reached – an African American is elected into the White House. This is history in the making, this is a new era; Michelle pays homage to this accomplished idea of change for a country and its prejudices. She works to remind the audience of the past, but emphasizes the hope of that message to move them forward into the future. This is a very appropriate and powerful message that she is sending to the public, and it is a very appropriate time to come. By saying ‘look how far we have come, but let’s not forget the dream’ she is catapulting the campaign into a whole new dimension.

Another thing that The First Lady does is acknowledge the others in the new administration who have made an impact. She discusses Hilary Clinton who worked to put “18 million cracks in that class ceiling so that our daughters and our sons can dream a little bigger and aim a little higher”. Further she addresses Joe Biden who, Like Obama, works to help the American worker. Most importantly she puts the focus on Barack as not only being an important leader but a compassionate person who is dedicated to his causes, such as healthcare.

Stylized – What are the stylistic choices she is making and what is the impact?

The essence of a speech is the design or the layout of it. In the Presidents campaign, much like that of Martin Luther King Jr. he offered an idea to his audience, but did it with very clear purpose and intention. Obama offered his listeners the idea of ‘change’ and kept it broad enough so that his audience could project themselves onto this idea as well. The First Lady was successful in staying true to the theme of the entire campaign of which her husband was trying to advocate. Yet, whereas the Presidents message of change was rather broad and interpretive, The First Lady utilized this same message but narrowed it down to a much more personable level – on an individualized family level.

The key element to her speech is to really connect to her audience and introduce herself as a relatable, articulate and confident First Lady. There are many elements of her language that work to accomplish this. Again, she starts off with a story about her compassion for her brother. She precedes that with a description of her as a mother, and her compassion for her children. Her words for any mother are truly compelling and she describes them as being the absolute center of her world. Yet, she makes a point to assert that she shares mutual fears and, like any sensible parent, only hopes to acquire a bright future for her daughters. Next, she describes herself as a daughter, with strong family ties and roots in blue collar America. This again, makes her relatable and she works to encompass all aspects of womanhood.

Overall, Michelle Obama is an excellent rhetorician. Though, often subtle, her words make an impact. She is relatable, confident and equipped with a powerful message of hope and change. With that, she hopes to ignite the campaign further and rally the American people behind a cause she feels so strongly about. It is a truly powerful and important speech.