Appealing to a Nation: Assessing Obamas Speech Rhetoric

President Obama delivered his speech to a joint session of congress in order to persuade
lawmakers to enact comprehensive health care reform (Obama, 2009). While the immediate
listening audience was the legislator, the target audience of President Obamas speech included
the American people as well--the main beneficiaries of healthcare reform. The speech was
televised and was presumably viewed by American audiences, and as such, it was designed to
both persuade lawmakers as well as appeal to the American people to exert pressure on congress
to pass reform. The Presidents speech is filled with statistical evidence, heartbreaking narrative
accounts, and references to the nations shared culture and history. Using the rhetorical devices
of ethos, pathos, and logos, President Obama appeals to both the audiences emotional and
intellectual capacity in order to persuade them to embrace his argument for reform.
President Obama employs a poetic use of ethos by instilling powerful images from the
nations history in both the beginning and in the end of his speech, creating a sort of bookend for
his argument. When introducing the idea for reform, President Obama recalls that it has been a
century since Theodore Roosevelt first called for healthcare reform (Obama, 2009). By leading
with a major figure in the nations history, President Obama appeals to the audiences sense of
cultural ethos and implicitly aligns his own argument with one of the nations most beloved
Presidents. Referring to Theodore Roosevelts own attempts at enacting reform lends President
Obamas plea for reform more authority. President Obama then bookends his speech with
another use of ethos, once again appealing to the nations shared history and values. Obama
outlines the history of our progress and describes the legislative social reforms that had been

successfully implemented by our predecessors (Obama, 2009). The dual use of ethos
establishes two metaphorical columns of historical figures that support President Obamas own
cause, invoking powerful ethos in the listening audience.
President Obama also employs ethos in connecting with the shared values and morals of
the audience. The nation had just suffered through a major economic crisis, and many Americans
were still suffering financially. President Obama understood his own fortunate social position,
and practiced tact in acknowledging the position of the millions of Americans that had suffered,
and were still suffering, due to the economic crisis. When describing the economy, President
Obama states, As any American who is still looking for work or a way to pay their bills will tell
you, we are by no means out of the woods. This is important because although he is one of the
top 1% socioeconomically, he still needs to appeal to those less fortunate and that don't have a
high six figure salary and job. Ultimately, this strategy allows for the President and the
administration to establish common ground and maintain a good relationship with the audience.
President Obama employs a substantial amount of pathos in his speech as well. When
attempting to describe the dismal state of healthcare, he appeals to the audience's compassion
and sorrow by using anecdotal narratives of individuals who have suffered hardships due to lack
of healthcare coverage. For example, he uses the example of the man from Illinois who lost his
coverage in the middle of chemotherapy for failing to report gallstones that he didn't even know
about (Obama, 2009). The President uses this egregious example of failure in the healthcare
system of the United States in order to invoke empathy from the audience, hoping to persuade
through a collective compassion. Furthermore, the use of anecdotal narratives also invokes a
sense of anger, directed towards the status quo of healthcare. This also supports President
Obamas appeal for reform. Should the audience see the absurdity and feel enraged that a man

would be denied health care for a condition he was not aware of, they are more likely to favor
comprehensive reform (if not punitive measures against the healthcare companies).
The President furthers the emotional appeal through a quote from Senator Ted Kennedy.
Now deceased, Senator Ted Kennedy stated in a personal letter at stake are not just the details
of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country. President
Obama uses this quote and testimony from Ted Kennedy as means of establishing a powerful
sense of pathos. The letter the President read that excerpt from was written by Ted Kennedy after
he found out his illness was terminal. While watching the speech, a viewer will feel extremely
sympathetic because the President is asking everybody to put their political agenda aside to
understand and feel the passion of a dying man who devoted his life to enacting health care
reform. that health care needs to be a human right and not a privilege to those who can afford it.
Employing such a high level of pathos in his speech, whether its using examples of tragedies
that happen to Americans, or anecdotes from health care visionaries helps the President shape his
argument and lends credibility and persuasiveness to his appeals.
President Obama employs the use of Logos to strengthen the arguments made through his
emotional and ethical appeals. Quantitative data and statistics are scattered throughout the speech
to further illustrate the dire necessity of healthcare reform, lending credibility to the emotional
appeals of the speech through facts and research. The President uses research from his
administration when citing the 14,000 Americans lose their coverage every day. In other words,
it can happen to anyone. (Obama, 2009) Whether this is because of pre-existing conditions or a
multitude of other factors, he uses this statistic to show that the current system is not working.
He also uses data from the private sector to further his position that public healthcare is the ideal
solution. He states, Unfortunately, in 34 states, 75 percent of the insurance market is controlled

by five or fewer companies. He uses this statistic to demonstrate how without competition,
prices go up, and quality goes down (Obama, 2009). He then employs logos by appealing to
the economic and financial instincts of his audience. By economists predictions, if we are able
to slow the growth of health care costs by just one-tenth of 1 percent each year -- one-tenth of 1
percent -- it will actually reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the long term. President Obama
appears to be credible in this instance because he Obama, 2009s professional economists that
advocate health care reform as means of reducing the deficit.Using numbers and statistics like
these increase his credibility as a speaker and leader because they factually back up his opinion
to help further persuade his audience.
President Obama uses several rhetorical devices in order to persuade his audience
towards his position. He uses ethos to establish a connection with his audience through the
shared beliefs, values, and history that are integral parts of being an American. He appeals to the
audiences emotions by citing individual anecdotes, demonstrating that the primary motivation
behind his call for reform is compassion for those who are less fortunate. Finally, he defends his
arguments, both ethical and emotional, through concrete facts, research, and data. He uses
rhetorical devices to form a formidable defense of his arguments, and he instils images from
American history to provide spiritual depth to his rhetoric. His well crafted speech ultimately
prevailed, and healthcare reform passed in March of 2010.

Work Cited
Obama, Barack H. "Transcript: Obama's Health Care Speech." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 09
Sept. 2009. Web. 02 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-obamas-health-care-speech/>.