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POSC 227 Agenda Setting Through Speeches and Debates
Winter 2010 / Barbara Allen,Tue/Thu 10:10–11:55, CMC 210 / Office hours by appt: Mon-Thu, sign-up Willis 408
The Course
Can political speeches like the State of the Union Address really set the agenda for the Congress and the country? How do election campaign speeches set an agenda and control the discourse among journalists, citizens, and candidate? Are debates just another form of the campaign stump speech, or do they offer a different view of candidates for office? How do debates figure into an overall campaign strategy to augment or be prefigured by political advertising? Can debates and campaign ads set an agenda for candidate and country? What about the spin? Do media set the agenda for the candidates? Who spins and what can citizens do to cut through the web? What do debates and speeches reveal about the political psychology of candidates and office holders: about how they process information and make decisions? These are a few of the questions we will address in our survey of the literature on political psychology and the formal communication of political speeches and, during an election campaign, debates, the stump speech, and election advertising.
Readings
The readings for the course have been drawn from a number of books and journal articles available on reserve at the library. You may make copies for your personal use.
Assignments
Previous POSC 227 classes have analyzed the speeches, debates, and short “speech/web ads” from election 2008, comparing these with speeches, debates, and campaign communication from other presidential campaigns. They have also content analyze President Obama’s 2009 inaugural address, “A New Birth of Freedom,” compare it to the inaugural addresses of other US presidents, and consider its potential agenda setting effects. The winter term 2010 class will focus on the State of the Union and Special Addresses of various Presidents, including Barack Obama, with a particular emphasis on the Obama Administration’s efforts to control the health care reform agenda. We will look at the narrative framing of political advertising for and against health care reforms and place the Administrations political communication in this broader information context. We will report our research findings at various stages throughout the term (dates noted below). Students will choose a research topic that uses the data collected by the class. Research findings will be presented in class on the final day of the course, March 9, 2009. In addition to the presentation, students will submit an analysis of their research findings in a medium or media of their choice. Media may include: a written analytical paper of approximately 10 pages in length, a visual representation such as a power point with a written script, a poster presentation, a film presentation. Each student must have the instructors approval for the proposed topic and form for the final analytical presentation, including the medium or combination of media to be submitted as the research report to be submitted for a grade.
Grades will be computed as follows:
Rhetorical Analysis of Selected Health Care Reform Ads & Speeches 20
Report & Content Analysis of State of the Union Addresses 30
Presentation of Individual Research 10
Analysis of Individual Research Findings in Medium of your Choice 30
Participation 10
Total 100%
Part 1: Words and Deeds: Elements of Style and Analysis
Tues Jan 5 Foundations of Rhetorical Analysis and the Concept of Agenda Setting
Overview and discussion of rhetorical style and analytical approaches
Thurs Jan 7 Fantasy Theme Analysis
Read: Ernest G. Bormann. 1985. The Force of Fantasy: Restoring the American Dream. Southern Illinois University Press. “The Critical Analysis of Seminal American Fantasies,” pp. 1–25.
Ernest G. Bormann, “The Eagleton Affair: A Fantasy Theme Analysis,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 59 (August 1973) 143–59.
Tues Jan 12 I. Controlling the Rhetorical Frame
Read: Mary E. Stuckey and Frederick J. Antczak. 1995. “The Battle of Issues and Images: Establishing Interpretive Dominance, in Presidential Campaign Discourse: Strategic Communication Problems. Albany: State University of New York Press. 93–116.
David Lewis, Dennis, Rogers, and Michael Woolcock. 2008. “The Fiction of Development: Literary Representations as a Source of Authoritative Knowledge,” Journal of Development Studies. 44, 2: 198–216.
II. Past as Prologue—Rhetoric of History
Read: Culpepper Clark and Raymie E. McKerrow. 1998. “The Rhetorical Construction of History,” in Doing Rhetorical History, Kathleen J. Turner, ed. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. 33–46.
Bruce E. Gronbeck. 1998. “The Rhetorics of the Past: History, Argument, and Collective Memory,” in Doing Rhetorical History, Kathleen J. Turner, ed. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. 47–60.
Thurs Jan 14 Words as Deeds
Read: Robert Paine. 1981. “When Saying is Doing,” in Politically Speaking: Cross-Cultural Studies of Rhetoric, Robert Paine, ed. Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues 9–23.
Ernest G. Bormann. 1985. The Force of Fantasy: Restoring the American Dream. Southern Illinois University Press. “The Style of Antislavery Rhetoric: Revolutionary Agitation versus Reform Persuasion” pp. 171–195.
Karlyn Kohrs Campbell and Kathleen Hall Jamieson. 1990. Deeds Done in Words, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. “[Ch 1] The Rhetorical Presidency,” 1–13; “[Ch 2] Inaugural Addresses,” 14–36
John F. Kennedy. 1963. “Radio-Television Report to the American People on Civil Rights, June 11, 1963.”
http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03CivilRights06111963.htm
Read: Barack Obama “A More Perfect Union,” Philadelphia, March 18, 2008
Transcript: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/18/obama.transcript/index.html
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrp-v2tHaDo
Read: Transcript and View Video of “Media Tackles Sensitive Race Issue in 2008 Election NPR 7 May 2008 Found at:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june08/race_05-07.html
Read: Caitlin Dwyer, Daniel Stevens, John Sullivan, and Barbara Allen. 2009. “Racism, Sexism and Candidate Evaluations in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election,” Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy 9 (October): 1.
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120126083/issue
Rec: Paul M. Kellsedt 2003. “[Ch 4] Media Framing and the Dynamics of Racial Policy Preferences,” The Mass Media and the Dynamics of American Racial Attitudes. New York: Cambridge University Press. 83–105.
Rec: Dexter B. Gordon. 2003. “[Ch 1] The Making of a Constitutive Rhetoric of Black Ideology,” Black Identity: Rhetoric, Ideology, and Nineteenth-Century Black Nationalism. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. 1–39
Rec: Philip Wander. 1990. “Political Rhetoric and the Un-American Tradition,” in Martin J. Medhurst, Robert L. Ivie, Philip Wander, and Robert L. Scott. Cold War Rhetoric: Strategy, Metaphor, and Ideology. Westport, CT: Praeger. 185–200.
Rec: Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki, “(Ch 7) Affirming Discord” and “(Ch 8 Black Power,” The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000).
Rec: Dexter B. Gordon. 2003. “[Ch 6] The Ideology of Black nationalism and American Culture,” Black Identity: Rhetoric, Ideology, and Nineteenth-Century Black Nationalism. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. 161–203.
Tues Jan 19 “A New Birth of Freedom” as Theme for:
The Inauguration of the Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States.
Comparing Content Analysis of “A New Birth of Freedom,” with other inaugural addresses,
Interactive Text and Video:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/20/us/politics/20090120_INAUGURAL_ANALYSIS.html
Interactive Graphic Comparing Inaugural Speeches
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/17/washington/20090117_ADDRESSES.html
Read: Ernest G. Bormann. 1985. The Force of Fantasy: Restoring the American Dream. Southern Illinois University Press. “The Rhetorical Vision of Abraham Lincoln,” pp. 196–222.
Abraham Lincoln. 1861. “First Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C. March 4, 1861.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lincoln1.asp
Abraham Lincoln. 1863. “Address Delivered at the Dedication of the Cemetery at Gettysburg, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863.”
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/gettyb.asp
Abraham Lincoln. 1863. “Emancipation Proclamation”
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/emancipa.asp
Abraham Lincoln. 1863. Second Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C. March 4, 1865.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lincoln2.asp
Louis Einhorn. 1995. “Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865),” in US Presidents As Orators: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook, Halford Ryan, ed.Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. 77–92.
Part 2 Setting Out a Vision; Setting Out Policy—Setting an Agenda?
Thurs Jan 21 I. The Inaugural Address
Read: James N. Druckman and Justin W. Holmes. 2004. “Does Presidential Rhetoric Matter? Priming and Presidential Approval,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 34, 4: 755–778.
II. The Visual in Rhetorical Analysis
Roland Barthes. 1999 [1964] and [1973]. “Rhetoric of the Image” and “Myth Today” in Visual Culture: The Reader. Jessica Evans and Stuart Hall, ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 33–40 and 51–58.
Rec: Jeffery Tulis. 1984. “The Decay of Presidential Rhetoric,” in Rhetoric and American Statesmanship. Glen Thurow and Jeffery Wallin, ed. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.99–110.
Read Analysis of:
Franklin D. Roosevelt. 1933. “First Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C., March 4, 1933.”
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/froos1.asp
Listen at:
http://webstorage4.mcpa.virginia.edu/speeches/audio/spe_1933_0304_roosevelt.mp3
John F. Kennedy. 1961. “Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961.”
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/kennedy.asp
Richard Nixon. 1969. “First Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C., January 20, 1969.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/nixon1.asp
Richard Nixon. 1973. “Second Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C., January 20, 1973.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/nixon2.asp
Jimmy Carter. 1977. “Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C., January 20, 1977.”
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/carter.asp
View portion at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pHMv7grxYE
View all at:
http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3286
Read about at: James Fallows. 1979. “The Passionless Presidency: The trouble with Jimmy Carter’s Administration,” The Atlantic Online 243, 5 (May): 33–48. http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/pres/fallpass.htm
Ronald Reagan. 1981. “First Inaugural Address” Washington D.C. January 20, 1981.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/reagan1.asp
View:
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/allpolitics/0406/reagan.speeches.ap/frameset.exclude.html
Ronald Reagan. 1985. “Second Inaugural Address” Washington D.C. January 21, 1985.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/reagan2.asp
William Clinton. 1993. “First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1993.”
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/clinton1.asp
William Clinton. 1997. “Second Inaugural Address, January 20, 1997.”
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/clinton2.asp
Tues Jan 26 Report on State of the Union Addresses and Special Addresses
Find Complete Listings of Transcripts and Videos at:
http://www.c-span.org/executive/stateoftheunion.asp
President Bill Clinton’s Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union January 27, 2000
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=2000
View: http://www.c-span.org/executive/stateoftheunion.asp
President Bill Clinton’s Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union January 19, 1999
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1999
View: http://www.c-span.org/executive/stateoftheunion.asp
President Bill Clinton’s Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union January 27, 1998
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1998
View: http://www.c-span.org/executive/stateoftheunion.asp
President Bill Clinton’s Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress of the State of the Union January 24, 1995
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=19985
View: http://www.c-span.org/executive/stateoftheunion.asp
President Bill Clinton’s Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union January 25, 1994
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1994
View: http://www.c-span.org/executive/stateoftheunion.asp
President Bill Clinton’s Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union February 17, 1993
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1993
View: http://www.c-span.org/executive/stateoftheunion.asp
President George H.W. Bush’s Address on Before a Joint Session of Congress on the State of the Union January 29, 1991
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1991
View: http://www.c-span.org/executive/stateoftheunion.asp
President George H.W. Bush’s Address on Before a Joint Session of Congress on the State of the Union January 31, 1990
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1990
View: http://www.c-span.org/executive/stateoftheunion.asp
President George H.W. Bush’s Address on Administration Goals Before a Joint Session of Congress February 9, 1989
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1989
View: http://www.c-span.org/executive/stateoftheunion.asp
President Ronald Reagan’s Address on Before a Joint Session of Congress on the State of the Union January 25, 1988
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1988
President Ronald Reagan’s Address on Before a Joint Session of Congress on the State of the Union January 27, 1987
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1987
President Ronald Reagan’s Address on Before a Joint Session of Congress on the State of the Union February 6, 1985
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1985
President Ronald Reagan’s Address on Before a Joint Session of Congress on the State of the Union January 25, 1984
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1984
President Ronald Reagan’s Address on Before a Joint Session of Congress on the State of the Union January 26, 1982
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1982
President Ronald Reagan’s Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the Program for Economic Recovery February 18, 1981
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1981
President Richard Nixon’s Address on Administration Goals Before a Joint Session of Congress January 30, 1974
Text:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=4328&st=nixon&st1=union
View: http://www.c-span.org/executive/stateoftheunion.asp
Listen:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/mediaplay.php?id=4328&admin=37
President Richard Nixon’s Address on Administration Goals Before a Joint Session of Congress January 20, 1972
Text:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=3396
Listen: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/mediaplay.php?id=3396&admin=37
President Richard Nixon’s Address on Administration Goals Before a Joint Session of Congress January 22, 1970
Text:
http://www.infoplease.com/t/hist/state-of-the-union/183.html
Listen: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/mediaplay.php?id=2921&admin=37
President Lyndon Johnson’s Address on Administration Goals Before a Joint Session of Congress January 14, 1969
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1969
President Lyndon Johnson’s Address on Administration Goals Before a Joint Session of Congress January 17, 1968
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1968
President Lyndon Johnson’s Address on Administration Goals Before a Joint Session of Congress January 4, 1965
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1965
President Lyndon Johnson, Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise March 15, 1965
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=0365
President Lyndon Johnson’s Address on Administration Goals Before a Joint Session of Congress January 8, 1964
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1964
President Lyndon Johnson’s Address on Administration Goals Before a Joint Session of Congress November 27, 1963
http://www.c-span.org/executive/transcript.asp?cat=current_event&code=bush_admin&year=1963
Thurs Jan 28 The Agenda Setting Literature: Framing, Priming and Media Effects
Read: Dietram Scheufele and David Tewksbury “Framing, Agenda Setting, and Priming: The Evolution of Three Media Effects Models” in David T. Canon John J. Coleman and Kenneth R Mayer, eds. The Enduring Debate: Classic and contemporary Readings in American Politics 5th edition. New York: WW Norton, 2008, pp. 342–347.
Lyn Ragsdale. 1984. “The Politics of Presidential Speechmaking, 1949-1980,” The American Political Science Review, Vol. 78, No. 4 (Dec., 1984), pp. 971-984.
Ronald Reagan. 1983. “Address to the National Association of Evangelicals [‘Evil Empire’]” Orlando, FL. March 8, 1983.
http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1983/30883b.htm
Ronald Reagan. 1984. “Address at the U.S. Ranger Monument, 40th Anniversary of D-Day, Pointe du Hoc, France, June 6, 1984.
http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/60684a.htm
Ronald Reagan. 1984. “Address at the Omaha Beach Memorial, 40th Anniversary of D-Day, Omaha Beach, France, June 6, 1984.
http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/60684b.htm
View:
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/allpolitics/0406/reagan.speeches.ap/frameset.exclude.html
Tues Feb 2 Agenda Setting and Image Management: Convention and Stump Speeches
Kathleen E. Kendall. 1995. “The Problem of Beginning in New Hampshire: Control over the Play,” in Presidential Campaign Discourse: Strategic Communication Problems. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1–34.
David Henry. 1988. “Senator John F. Kennedy Encounters the Religious Question: ‘I am Not the Catholic Candidate for President,’” in Oratorical Encounters. Westport CT: Greenwood Press. 153–173.
Vito N. Silvestri. 1995. “John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–1963),” in US Presidents As Orators: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook, Halford Ryan, ed.Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. 210–227.
Barack Obama “Speech to the Democratic National Convention,” Denver, CO, August 28, 2008