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Naomy Delgado
Ms. Howard
AP English Language
7 April 2014

Analysis on Obama's Democratic National Convention Speech

State Senator and Harvard graduate, Barack Obama, in his 2004 keynote address to the National
Democratic Convention, illustrates the potential of political change by voting democratic in the
2004 Presidential Election. Obamas purpose is to persuade voters to vote democratically,
specifically voting for John Kerry and John Edwards into the presidential cabinet. He adopts an
uplifting tone in order to convince his audience that as a united nation, there is a way to improve
through voting democratically. Through the use of imagery, allusion, and parallelism, these
techniques were very effective in his speech to persuade his audience of his argument. These
techniques were effective in creating a flow within his speech that guides his audience through a
path of what he successfully illustrates in his view through imagery. The use of allusion helps to
picture his ideas and concepts vividly through various different references, creating a strong
emotional connection of passion, drive, and inspiration to change the nation. Using parallelism
has helped with his syntax in creating a more impactful delivery and added emphasis to his
points.
Obama begins his speech by supporting his title as State Senator of Illinois, and starts to paint the
picture of the life that his parents lived through in a country outside of America. He establishes
his title by alluding his audience to what Illinois is known for, crossroads of a nation, land of
Lincoln , which further establishing his credibility by his title of State Senator of Illinois at the

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time, and proceeds to draw out the vision of his fathers home. My father was a foreign student,
born and raised in a small village in Kenya. He grew up herding goats, went to school in a tin
roof shack. He further continues painting the picture to his audience by later including his
grandfathers, grandmothers, and mothers lives as a basic existence. Through this use of
imagery, he effectively draws out the American struggle that is commonly related to many other
citizens in order to make an emotional connection between his audience, as well as contrasting
Kenya, the country his father grew up in, and America. The layout of common ground that he
creates between his audience conveys a more understanding tone that convinces the audience he
is an average person like themselves. Further on within this section, he describes the dreams that
his parents wanted to see in his future, They imagined me going to the best schools in the land,
even though they werent rich, because in a generous America you dont have to be rich to
achieve your potential. Through his syntax in his sentence, his contrast of a negative view to a
positive view gives his idea more strength, and further drives a connection between the audience.
Obama moves to his speech by referring to the American Dream and even the Declaration of
Independence to show his pride for the nation in relations to how much freedom and democracy
is given in the United States unlike any other country. He appeals to the proud tone of the
audience by unifying the American Story through his own life, I stand here knowing that my
story is part of the larger American Story, and that I owe a debt to all of those who came before
me and further contrasts Americas democracy to other countries, ... and that, in no other
country on earth, is my story even possible. He continues to even cite the Declaration of
Independence to redefine the pride for America to be simple and admirable. This use of allusion
from the senator gives off a patriotic tone that establishes an emotional connection to his
audience that the democracy they envisioned America to can be and is still possible to obtain.

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This can be further supported through his use of allusion in the next paragraph, referencing the
1st amendment to show Americas pride comes from its democracy and freedom to be safe and
open-minded.
Obama closes his keynote address by reassesing his credibility through his counter argument,
further promoting John Kerry and John Edwards campaign as well as promoting the democratic
agenda as a whole. He refers to his counter argument that most democrats rely on the
government and quickly concedes, The people I meet--in small towns and big cities, in diners
and office parks--they dont expect government to solve all their problems and continues fall
into the climax of his speech using parallelism to promote John Kerry and John Edwards as the
democratic candidates who can help change the nation, John Kerry calls on us to hope. John
Edwards calls on us to hope. Hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the
audacity of hope!. The use of parallelism demonstrated within his counterargument and all
throughout the rest of his address drives his speech into an emotional climax, which strongly
emphasises the power that his audience has to change the nation through their vote not just for
John Kerry and John Edwards, but for the democratic vote in an election.
Through his 2004 keynote address to the National Democratic Convention, Obama was able to
effectively deliver his purpose to persuade his audience to vote democratically through his
primary use of imagery, allusion, and parallelism. These devices successfully assisted him to try
to convince his audience that as a unified nation, the vote for the democratic candidates John
Kerry and John Edwards, they are able to change the nation for the patriotic, free and openminded democracy that it is meant to be.

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