Rhetorical Criticism of a Major Speech

Renee Alleyne

Speaker: President Barack Obama

Speech Topic: 9/11 Memorial

Event Location: Kennedy Center

Speech Date: September 11, 2011

Rhetorical Criticism of President’s Obama’s Speech at a Concert for Hope

On September 11, 2011, President Barack Obama addressed the audience at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts for the Concert for Hope. This three day event was assembled to commemorate the victims and families on the ten year anniversary of the horrific attacks on September 11, 2001. The speech follows the genre of a national eulogy. Obama’s speech was important because, as the President of the United States, he acts as our “spiritual leader” in times of reflection on tragic events. Although September 11th greatly impacted the entire country, New York City was affected the most. This paper will perform and analysis on the genre and situation of the speech as well as the ideographs, civil relation and shared texts used throughout the speech.

Background:

On the morning of September 11, 2011, the Islamic terrorist group, Al-Qaeda, initiated a series of attacks on the United States of America. The attacks consisted of two airplanes which flew into the World Trade Center in New York, one plane which crashed into the Pentagon in Virginia and a fourth plane whichcrashed into a field in Pennsylvania. This was the largest attack on United States soil since Pearl Harbor. The collapse of the World Trade Center in New York caused severe devastation. Thousands of people were killed, lower Manhattan was destroyed and the stock market had to close down. These attacks sparked a decade long war on terror including the search of Osama Bin Laden, who was the head of the Al-Qaeda organization.

A Call to Compassion was a three day observance event for the ten year anniversary of the September 11thattacks. The concert was originally supposed to be located at the Washington National Cathedral, however was moved to the Kennedy Center as a result of recent building damage from a collapsed crane. The event was broken up into three segments: Honor, Heal and Hope to reflect the genre of each event. September 9th consisted of the Honor segment. It was dedicated to the victims, survivors, families of victims, and first responders. September 10th consisted of the Heal segment which was a family friendly concert for the community. The last segment, Hope, occurred on September 11. It focused on how far America has come since the attacks and the positive outlook of the future. Performers at the concert included R&B singer Patti LaBelle, country singer Alan Jackson, mezzo soprano Denyce Graves, and the Marine Chamber Orchestra.

Importance of Speech

September 11th will forever be in significant day in New York history as well as American history. The ten year anniversary of this tragic day is important for remembering those who were lost, as well as assessing what the country has achieved since then. On the morning of September 11, 2011 President Obama and former President George Bush stood together, for the first time, at the site of the attacks in New York City to listen to family members recite the names of people who were lost. Per a New York Times article, “this tableau was striking: the president who spent years hunting Bin Laden next to the one who finally got him.”(NY Times) At this ceremony, President Obama spoke only to read Psalm 46 from the Bible.The Concert for Hope later that evening would be Obama’s first speech of this day addressing the anniversary of September 11th.

President Obama’s speech was the highlight of The Concert for Hope. Obama announced his candidacy for a second term in office in April, 2011. In May, 2011, under President Obama’s executive orders, Osama Bin Laden was captured and killed. This represented the end of a decade long man hunt, finally bringing justice and closure to the horrific crimes committed on September 11th. Throughout this speech, Obama subtly references this feat in saying Americans “have demonstrated that those who do us harm cannot hide from the reach of justice anywhere in the world” and that “we’ve overcome…terrorism.” He is reminding the audience that despite the sacrifices, America has won this war under his leadership. This credits him with ethos and will help him in his future efforts to run for his second presidential campaign.

The media’s response to the speech was positive and acknowledged that the speech represented the end of a decade long war. The Obama administration had recently announced plans to significantly reduce the number of United Stated troops in Iraq. According to White House Correspondent, Neil Murano, “President Barack Obama used his speech on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 atrocity to paint a picture of overseas military losses and of domestic resilience under stress.” (The Daily Caller) The New York Times stated that in the speech, Obama “signaled that the Sept 11th decade – one of endless war in Afghanistan and Iraq – was drawing to a close.”(NY Times) The speech at the Concert for Hope was not just about reflection on 9/11, but also about closure. Obama states that it is time “to move from a decade of war to a future of peace.”

Style of Speech

Jon Favreau was the Director of Speechwriting for President Obama until 2013. Although not confirmed, it can be assumed that he had input in Obama’s speech at the Concert for Hope in 2011. In his interview withDavid Gergen, Jon states that one of the most important factors in speechwriting is to tell the audience a story. This is conveyed throughout Obama’s speech. He tells an overall story of how in the past decade, the United States of America experienced its darkest days of grief and sorrow, followed by how the country overcame that grief and defeated its attackers. Obama also incorporates a personal story of Suzanne Swaine, who, despite losing her husband and brother in the attacks, raised two academically successful daughters. This is used to further connect to the audience because Suzanne’s story is similar to thousands of other people’s stories who lost loved ones in the attacks. This technique is common in many of Obama’s speeches.

The rhetorical devices used in the speech are very powerful. Similar to Dr. Martin Luther King’s, I Have a Dream speech, Obama uses archetypal metaphors, anaphoras and allusions in his speech. Archetypal metaphors are demonstrated in Obama’s night/day comparison to sorrow/joy. Obama explains how the country “confronted one of our darkest nights” however held steadfast to its faith and survived to celebrate the joy in the morning. The anaphora, “These past ten years” is used numerous times in the speech. Obama is constantly showing the progression that the country has made since 2001 and the accomplishments that have been made during his presidency. Obama makes an allusion the founding fathers Declaration of Independence when he states that “men and women should govern themselves; that all people are created equal, and deserve the same freedom.”

Analysis on Genre and Situation:

The genre of this speech fits the category of a commemorative rhetoric combined with a national eulogy. In the article “Civil Eulogy in the Epitaphios of Pericles and the Citywide Prayer Service of Rudolph Giuliani”, Cristina Pepe describes the three features that make a commemorative speech powerful. First, this speech genre establishes the role of the speaker and the relationship with the audience. President Obama “represents the community as a spokesman and… enjoys the benefits of sharing cultural values with his audience.” (Pepe, 2007) Throughout the speech, Obama uses the words “we”, “our”, “Americans”. This unifies the audience and removes the barriers which establish him as the President and the audience as American citizens. Second, this genre focuses on the “traditional and immutable repertory of ideas and words” such as “appeals to ancestors’ deeds and valour.”(Pepe, 2007) Obama makes references to ancestors who “overcome slavery and the Civil War…overcome bread lines and fascism and recessions and riots.” Lastly, Pepe states that “the praise of the constitution and of the ideals of the [city]…is the true praise of the dead.” (Pepe, 2007). Obama praises America and specifically New York in his speech stating that “New York remains the most vibrant of capitals of arts and industry and fashion and commerce.”

The genre of this speech also fits that of a National Eulogy as explained by Campbell and Jameison in the article “National Eulogies.” First, President Obama establishes a “priestly role” by invoking God. Campbell and Jameison state that “linkages between justice and God permit presidents to tie their responses to terrorist attacks to the notion that justice will triumph.” (Campbell, Jameison)This is exactly what Obama does when he states that the country has a “just God as our guide.” Secondly, Obama “transforms death into symbols of national resilience.” (Campbell, Jameison) Their sacrifices have contributed to America’s continued freedom. “These patriots defined the very nature of courage.” Lastly, Obama reassures the audience that this catastrophe would not happen again because America has already won the war on terrorism and justice has prevailed. The decade long war is coming to an end.

Analysis on Ideographs, Civil Religion and Shared Texts:

President Obama uses several ideographs in his September 11th anniversary speech to develop support for his political positions on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The positive ideograph, freedom, is used three times in the speech. Obama uses this term to emphasis America’s values and explain that the war was necessary to protect these values. He states that “this land pulses with the optimism of those who set out for distant shores, and the courage of those who died for human freedom.”A second ideograph used in this speech is sacrifice. This term highlights the negative consequences of war. His statement that, “the sacrifices of these men and women, and of our military families, reminds us that the wages of war are great; that while service to our nation is full of glory, war itself is never glorious”, provides a strong rhetoric for the necessity of the war to end and for troops to come home. The third ideograph used in the speech is character. This is used to exemplify the people of America. Character is what caused New Yorkers to run into burning building to save their colleagues on September 11th, character is what the military demonstrated when going into war to fight for our country, and character is what enabled the city to rebuild in the years since then. The final ideograph used in the speech is legacy. The legacy of America will be that despite the terrorists’ attempts to defeat America, they have failed. The character of the people remained intact, freedom still exists, and despite the sacrifices of war, America has prevailed. Generations to come will know of America’s legacy;“a legacy of firefighters who walked into fire and soldiers who signed up to serve; of workers who raised new towers, and citizens who faced down their private fears. Most of all, of children who realized the dreams of their parents. It will be said that we kept the faith; that we took a painful blow, and we emerged stronger than before.” America’s heroic legacy is symbolic of Obama’s legacy as a president.

Civil religion is used extensively throughout the speech as a result of its genre as a national eulogy. Obama links the civil religion with his success at achieving justice. He opens the speech with a quote from the Bible stating “The Bible tells us – ‘weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’” The joy that he is referring to is not only the country’s ability to rebuild in the past ten years, but also the end of the war on terrorism which includes the removal Osama Bin Laden. He also states that despite the atrocities that occurred ten years ago “our faith—in God…has not changed.” To demonstrate the diversity of the country, Obama refers to places of worship for all religions such as churches, temples, synagogues and mosques. This reiterates the fact that the United States is accepting of all religions and would not mistrust Muslims as a result of the attacks or the subsequent war. Obama also refers to God as “just”, therefore implying that God was on America’s side as it sought out justice for the crimes on September 11th. He closes the speech asking God to bless those who were lost and to bless the United States of America.

Conclusion

President Obama’s speech at the ten year anniversary of the September 11th attacks represented a new post war era. It was an important speech which highlighted one of his major achievements in his first term in office and sets the stage for a second term win.He effectively used several rhetorical devices to convey his message to the audience. The speech fits the criteria for a national eulogy and a commemorative speech. Obama used ideographs and civil religion throughout the speech to further drive his political agenda on ending the war and focusing on a “future of peace.”

Work Cited

Landler, Mark, and Eric Schmitt. "Bush and Obama, Shoulder to Shoulder." New York Times [New York] 12 Sept. 2011: A23. Web. <

Munro, Neil. "Obama’s 9/11 Speech Echoes Political Themes." The Daily Caller. 12 Sept. 2011. Web. 24 Jan. 2016. <

Campbell, Karlyn Kohrs., and Kathleen Hall. Jamieson. Presidents Creating the Presidency: Deeds Done in Words. Chicago: U of Chicago, 2008. Print.

Pepe, Cristina. "Civic Eulogy in the Epitaphios of Pericles and the Citywide Prayer Service of Rudolph Giuliani." Advances in the History of Rhetoric 10.1 (2007): 131-44. Web.

"Call to Compassion - Presented by Washington National Cathedral." Washington National Cathedral Home Comments. Web. 24 Jan. 2016. <

Favreau, Jon. "The Language and Legacy of Presidential Speechwriting." Interview by David Gergen. Web.