Obama's Rhetoric

Jeffery S. Siker begins his article by presenting how President Obama has been “perhaps the most complex individual ever elected to the position of President of the United States” (586). So, how did Barack Obama get elected? One could certainly argue that it was Obama’s speeches that led the country to vote for him. Siker mentions a book, Power in Words, that writes about Obama’s rhetorical strategies. There are countless amounts of books that have been written about President Obama’s rhetoric—a book that I have read is called Words Like Loaded Pistols: Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama by Sam Leith. In this book, Leith talks about the power of persuasion, which Obama seems to have mastered this. In President Obama, the Bible, and Political Rhetoric we can notice that President Obama used Scripture for the benefit of the people—Siker states three aspects of Obama’s rhetoric: “(1) the felt religious commitment and experience of faith, (2) a faith that emphasizes the ongoing battle for economic and social justice, and (3) a faith that involves critical thinking and conscious choices, namely, a reasoned faith” (593). Obama used the Bible as a book of wisdom and not just as a formula to manipulate Christians to vote for him—which is very unlike the candidates that are running for presidency today. In the pew below, we can see that in 2012 Obama the less Christian voters than Romney and more from “other faiths”. Overall, one can argue that Obama using the Bible in speeches was not a form of exploitation, like candidates are now using the Bible in their speeches today.

http://www.pewforum.org/2012/11/07/how-the-faithful-voted-2012-preliminary-exit-poll-analysis/