Answer a couple of the following inquiries, NOTE: I am NOT asking for your opinion of the president or his political party here. We are all rhetorical critics examining an "artifact" (The Speech) objectively, ok? So using your class vocabulary and book knowledge so far consider:
What would you say was the "thesis" or resolution of of our president's S of the U message? (Remember the resolution is worded on the govt side/the affirmative side/that is the side promoting CHANGE in a debate setting)--What is the status quo response to the president? (The negative side of the big issues or the side that resists any changes is the status quo). What points seemed to go over well? What was controversial? How does President Obama set up the more controversial material to make it less "upsetting" for opponents? When and what type of evidence does he use for his arguments? Is this speech persuasive? What has become of the refrain "yes we can" associated with the presidents' election? Do we still hear it? What new catch phrases are repeated during this speech and how does the repetition effect the audience?
Visit this site for some things to listen for and try not to repeat what others post, rather extend and add on to other ideas and responses --join the conversation! http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/104895/20110125/top-six-themes-of-state-of-the-union-address-2011-preview.htm
Please email any questions about your advocacy papers which are due next Tuesday, wheeleSacrc.losrios,edu--I will see you then, this blog is open until next TH before class fyi
21 comments:
The thesis of this S of the U is that we are a country of 1 people and that we must come together as one in order to get things done and improve the well being of our country.
The illegal immigration is one thing that is seen as a bad thing by many. He talks about people studying abroad in the US, getting a degree and then leaving the US and going home to compete against us. He makes the children of illegal immigrants seem as though they are the victims because they lived here their whole life and face deportation.
He uses many statistics for his arguments. He talks about getting back on top and showing stats that they are on their way. We aren't there yet but we will be.
He sets up a lot of controversial issues as if they are good things and will benefit America if we follow through. He makes it seem as if they can be better. His health care plan is a good example. He makes it seem as if its not good enough and it can be better.
This is a very persuasive speech. He is a very optimistic person which is needed during these times. Having this attitude can go a very long way. People need hope and something to grasp onto and say yes things are getting better. The only thing is that some of the things he talks about like tax cuts is not feasible. He wants to cut cut cut when at a time like this when we are in such a deficit and he wants to spend so much more money on other things.
"yes we can" has turned into "winning the future" and people love this because they have something to look forward to and something to hopefully look behind. They want to forget about the tough times that have been and look forward to good times. It makes times seem better then ever. The audience loves to hear good things, not things that we can dwell on. They want to hear things are getting better and are going to be better.
Michael Drummond
i believe the resolution was education, most of what he had to was tied into getting an education. it seemed most people were really receptive. he used space exploration as an example on why it is important to get an education, which he also tied into jobs.
i believe the resolution was education, most of what he had to was tied into getting an education. it seemed most people were really receptive. he used space exploration as an example on why it is important to get an education, which he also tied into jobs.
-neal vickers
I belive that President Obama resolution was on the issue of education. Obama often talked about other countries such as China and Inida, and that the were beating the U.S in college graduates and get high level jobs. In our country many people stuggle to even get a high school diploma , let alone think about going to college. Obama's message was very clear: In order for the United States to compete in a Global economy Americans must get an education.
Dimo Katabe
Jamila Jolby. I believe that his thesis is that the US is resilient. He says we will get there by increasing education, creating more job opportubities ,and most importantly reforming our financial situation. He is very persuasive because of his sincerity. He seems to truly care about our country. The status quo might argue his stimulus idea didn't work because many people are jobless and people are still losing their homes. He uses example of stories of people he has talked to. Or letters that have been written to him. His "yes we can" has been changed. Not sure what to though.His plans went over well. The health bill was contreversial. He apoligized for not explaining it in more detail.
Thesis: In order to move forward for a better future, America must understand that the world has changed and that we must work together and out innovate and out educate other countries.
He states that America has been the most prosperous country in the world, but the number is exaggerated in a sense that he is comparing America to smaller countries and China, which is a country just starting to move on from a 3rd world country.
He wants to invest in research, but with what budget? And to creating new jobs, what kind of jobs? Jobs that are laborious? Office jobs? Are they low paying?
Immigration and the war in Iraq were controversial issues brought up in his speech.
President Obama sets up the more controversial material by first introducing the commonalities we all share and then introduces a story of a person, event or business that parallels the issues he addresses to make a point.
He uses line graphs, pie graphs and illustrations to help make his points, although the graphs do not have a source.
His speech is not persuasive. He is just regurgitating what he said in his last S of the U speech. He says what we must do, and says how we will do it, but does not answer where cost is coming from and the sacrifices Americans will have in order achieve the goals.
"Yes we can" is not appropriate for this speech. His speech is more humble and less cocky. Now it is all about "Winning the future". The audience seems to agree that we need to better our future for the next generation and applause to his phrase every time.
-Alex Soohoo
He made a good point that qualifications for jobs today are different than decades ago. Also cutting tax dollars from oil companies serves a great way to invest into clean energy.
-Alex Soohoo
President Obama's State of the Union Address opened with statements that set the mood for his entire speech: that although we all have differing opinions which we feel strongly about, our unique ability to come together as one for a greater purpose is what sets us apart. On important issues such as the national debt, education, and jobs, allegiance to a specific party must be put on the back burner to make way for solution. We, as a nation, must encourage education so that our research and technology progress and move us forward in the world. President Obama wants to allocate more funds to the truly important issues, taking them away from big oil and other industries that are currently holding us back. He stresses the importance of unity, innovation, friendly relationships and new partnerships. His plans seemed to be well-received by his audience, and I hope they are acted out.
-Melissa Leonard
Obama wants to promote change in the way of life in America in many ways. He wants the American people to out educate, out innovate and out build the rest of the world. He wants America to come out on top in the future and not get surpassed by other countries like China and India. China and India educate their children when they are younger and with a much harder system than the United States does. He wants things to change so that the United States can out race everyone else, and he proposes that we can do it through education. One of his solutions was Race to the Top, where every state could try and come up with a new education plan, and if he and other government officials liked it then they would buy it. Obama believes American students need to be more disciplined and need higher expectations put on them, so that we can win in the future.
-Reachel Ramsay
The thesis of President Obama's speech to Congress was under the guidelines of moving America forwards. The President then gave examples of how the United States can get back into the game when it comes to areas such as innovation, education and jobs.
The President's speech looked towards the future, and saw the status quo of America today as a bit stagnate and lagging. He then went on to say that when we come together and foster innovation and new technology as a country, we thrive (Sputnik Moment).
As the President spoke and advocated his ideas, he often would use examples from real situations from people that were in the room at the time. this gave a sense of credibility to the resolves he was fighting for.
-Trevor Huth
Garrette Adams
I feel that Obama’s thesis in the state of the union speech was basically “it’s not whether or not we can sit together tonight, it’s working tomorrow that matters.” He mentions quite often that democrats and republicans need to work together to resolve certain issues, such as education, jobs, economy, etc.
His speech is persuasive because when he talks about other countries education and technology, it seemed as if he was egging on America to step up to the plate and do what he asks. He tries to persuade parents and teachers to teach the children of our country to be more disciplined, and to honor the science fair winner as much as the winners of the super bowl.
The thesis or resolution of President Obama’s State of the Union address is that as a country we need to invest in green energy technology and education in order to compete and stay on top of other developing nations such as China. He focused on the fact that why we as Americans all have our opinions and feel very admit on these opinions we are a great nation because we can set aside our differences to work together. Obama makes controversial material less upsetting by introducing it with how great of a nation we are, then stating the controversy and then a personalized example about real people that goes along with the controversy. I would say his state of the union address although well stated is not very persuasive, he says we need to invest in education and technology yet we need to freeze spending. He doesn’t state where we should pull money from to pay for the investment in education or technology and his graphs didn’t have any sources. He didn’t use the “yes we can” for this speech but instead had us focus on the future of our nation which was well received by the audience.
-Melissa Barger
Like Garrette said, I feel that Obama's thesis of the speech was that Republicans and Democrats need to work together to solve the problems of the United States in order to provide a better future for the people of America. Many of the people were not content with the status quo of Obama's progress because they expected that he would have accomplished a lot more by now.
Health care was a big controversial topic of the speech. The cost of health care as well as to who it should be available to were two of the things that just could not be agreed upon. I would say that the war in Iraq was the biggest controversial issue of the speech. A lot of people feel that there is too much money being spent on the war that could be used to help fix the budget deficit here plus other needs and resources.
As for his speech being persuasive, he addressed many things that he planned on doing in order to solve the problems of America, many of which people wanted to hear such as bringing home troops in Iraq.
-Ashley Ginn
After seeing the clip, I thought the president's speech was intended to motivate all Americans to adapt to the changing world, and to work together as a nation to give our future generations the support they need to succeed.
Ying Vang
President Obama emphasizes that republicans and democrats need to set aside their differences and work together to "win the future", a phrase he uses repeatedly, to encourage that what Americans do now should change the future. He wants to rebuild America's infrastructure. He says that America needs to out innovate, out educate, and out build the rest of the world. That we should strengthen our empire and stay on top.
-Raiza Agutos-
President Obama reiterates the fact that we need to work as a whole, regardless of our different political views. As stated above, he repeatedly mentions "winning the future" and encourages us to work together to help rebuild America. He intends on doing this by focusing on innovation, education and jobs to better compete with other "power" countries such as China.
Katharine Baskins
The thesis of Obama's speech is one that suggests unity of the American people and working together, pointing out that we are bound together as one people. To echo this sentiment, President Obama often used words such as we, and us, while mentioning both parties and never just one.
Talks of the tax cut, job creation, and a recovering economy seemed to have went over well. The most controversial things in his speech are illegal immigration issue and the healthcare reform. To make these things hit home to the viewer or less controversial, President Obama often used examples he found throughout the country to illustrate a point. His usage of words to include everyone also made viewers feel as if we're all in this together.
I would say that his speech is quite persuasive and inspirational. He most certainly is a talented orator. Through the usage of his words, you could see Speaker Boehner holding back tears, although Boehner is known to be an emotional person. Rather than using "yes we can", Obama instead used "we do big things" to inspire and illustrate and sense of superiority for Americans.
-King Xiong
Obama's speech was one that was designed to inspire hope in the people in tough times. He begins making the point that we are a nation who has faced tough times and always prospered. His thesis in the speech is "...despite all our divisions and disagreements, our hesitations and our fears, America prevailed because we chose to move forward as one nation, as one people."
He is using a persuasive argument for his speech. He acknowledges the fact that we have big challenges ahead of us to get through the tough times, but then lays out how we've already been working through them and what we're going to do next.
-brandon morgan
Obama's state of the union seemed very focused on education and how he is worried about a shift in power leading to cuts to education. He also seemed mildly concerned about the future of the United States by mentioning that by 2035 he hopes we get all of our energy from a clean energy source. This struck me as odd due to the fact that at most he would be president to 2016 if he is relected. The speech seemed like a plea to the other side to the other side of congress for bipartisanship. It seemed as if his message was American unity by talking congress working together to accomplish legislatives and the shooting of congres woman Gabby Gifford. The biggest thing i took away from this speech was that he did not want cuts to education and he needs bipartisanship of congress.
NIC ROMNEY
The thesis is how we are going to change the future.
The president is asking the congress to stop giving billions of taxpayer dollars to the oil companies, and instead use that money on new innovations such as clean energy. To make it less upsetting to the opponents he said “instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, lets invest in tomorrow’s “. He also emphasized that oil companies are doing just fine on their own. The president is asking Democrats and Republicans to work together to solve the problems in U.S. He said creating more clean energy jobs in the U.S.
I believe that the speech was persuasive and he has addressed many good things about the future that we have to work hard do good in education and technology and we can achieve a lot.
Vijeta lal
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