Rhetorical Presidency

In modern presidencies, increasing partisanship and political ideologies have become a critical component in a divided government, thus accentuating the hardship of modern presidents in cooperating Congress. In addition, the reforms to congressional powers and the adoption of new laws have bolstered Congress’ influence in the legislative arena, this in turn make it more difficult for the President to govern Congress in an already strained relationship.

This book is a bold work by George C. Edwards in which he shares his views of the political system in the US and how it has evolved over time. He has touched almost every president since the 1930s and brought to light some interesting details about how presidents have followed patterns and used their own style of actions to meet their unique objectives. The book describes in detail the attitudes of presidents and reflects his views on presidency. For instance, he has expressed three premises about presidential leadership: public support is used as a social resource by president, presidents must take interest in the problems of the people in order to actually garner support rather than just delivering speeches, and the public can be mobilized successfully by permanent campaigns.

"He was frank and outspoken, and went off-script from time to time to emphasize a point or share a light banter with his audience," the Palace added.

The 21st century presidents mainly entered the post-modern era. According to the Tulis second constitution, the rhetoric nature of the presidency mainly causes the presidency to depend on the combining factors at the cost of narratives. This has enabled the president’s saturation of media has enabled presidents to address numerous political platforms. The post-modern era of presidency signifies the Tulis second constitution in which the opportunity has been provided to the unlikely candidates for the presidency. For example, if the people had desired to have a businessman as their president, so they would have selected Ross Perrot as their president in 1992 who himself has financed his all presidential campaigns. The nomination of President

Since 1952, television has played a major role in presidential elections. Television allows candidates to reach a broad number of people, and personalities, to help push along their campaigns. Campaigns help the candidates just as much as the voters. The candidates get to be identified, and known to the voters, and the voters get to hear and see how a specific candidate identifies with their needs and wants. The best way to get this information out there is through the most used form of media, television.

Each president from Theodore Roosevelt to Herbert Hoover faced his own unique set of situations during their tenure, ranging from railroad regulation to the Great Depression. Though each presidency required different solutions for which the public had to be shaped, through spin, in order to resolve a situation in a manner the president saw fit, some presidents such as William Howard Taft, and Warren G. Harding are not as well known for their use of spin. Due to the varying technological and communicative advancements like the introduction of press conferences and the invention of the radio; and the different events, such as World War I, and the Great Depression that resulted in the change in public perceptions of spin, the extent to which each president used spin changed because the circumstances under which each president had to preside over changed, so each president had to build their presidency off of their predecessor’s successes and failures.

On September 11, 2001, the Islamist terrorist group known as al-Qaeda launched a series of terrorist attacks on the United States of America, specifically in the New York City and Washington D.C areas. Nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes with the intention of using them as suicide attacks that would crash those planes into designated buildings, or targets. Two of the four passenger jets were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, both of which collapsed entirely within two hours of being hit. The third plane was crashed into the Pentagon, and the west side of the building, which is the

In this paper I am going to discuss the rhetorical appeals, as well as the argumentative structure, audience and purpose set forth by George W. Bush in his September 27 speech in Flagstaff, Arizona. More specifically I will refer to the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos and logos, and explain how they are used to gain the support and attention of the audience and further the further the purpose of the speech. As I explain these appeals I will also give an insight into the argumentative structure and why it is apparent in this particular speech.

In Mark Twain’s, “A Presidential Candidate,” Twain makes a modest proposal for his own desire to run for the presidency. He comes forward with all of his wrongdoings unlike most candidates who choose not to reveal personal shortcomings while running for office. His use of rhetorical devices and various strategies throughout his proposal help achieve the purpose and humor of the selection. Several devices which accomplish the humor of this piece include details, irony, and tone.

Former President Barack Obama performed a speech in response to a mass shooting that happened in a community college in Oregon. This speech included other gun related incidents which occurred during his time in office in 2015 regarding Umpqua Community College and Roseburg. After giving his condolences and love to those who felt loss in their hearts, Obama gave a powerful argument regarding gun control and how we, as Americans, should fight and strive for better gun laws. While Obama gave a moving speech, I could not help but feel it fell short in its argument while conducting a thorough critique. Obama appealed to his audience utilizing pathos and ethos with ease but fell short for those in the audience looking for logos or specific facts within his performance. I will be taking this opportunity to delve further into an analysis of this speech and both its heights and pitfalls.

The introduction of mass media, especially electronic media, has had a huge impact on the role of the president. Both the press and the president now depend on one another for existence. Richard Nixon was the first president to effectively use television. By making public appearances on TV, talking about his policies, his economic plans and his personal beliefs, Nixon garnered the support of the American public (PBS). By personifying himself for the American public Nixon made himself the first president elected for his character rather than a party for its views, thus changing the face of politics forever. Eisenhower was the first to let the press into the White House and found himself arranging his workday around the press so that he could make important announcements in time for the evening news, thus informing the American people immediately about what was going on. Kennedy, above all, was able to use television to his advantage. He showed that charisma, and amiability was the most essential thing in a TV president. The American people watched Kennedy and for the first time felt that they personally knew and liked their president. This changed the media as it caused people to believe in and trust their president implicitly (Museum Archives). The presidential debate in 1992 furthered this idea. Bill Clinton and George Bush met with a group of average Americans who questioned them. After this, morning talk shows, and

President Barack H. Obama has been always using rhetorical strategies in his political speeches. He used these strategies to present important pointes and views of his in front of public. Delivering points and views properly and logically got him to be the president in the first place. President Obama used mostly ethos and pathos yet some logos to deliver his inaugural and the state of union speeches. Being that, he was able to reach audience emotionally and make the speech flow efficiently while he preserved his credibility. Each speech has own audience that differ from the other. In the inaugural speech the audience was the public and therefor the speech was short and used sort sentences that are easy to understand. On the other hand, the state of union speech audience was mostly the congers members and therefore the language was more specific and filled with political terminology. Both speeches will be discussed upon context and using ethos, pathos and logos consecutively.

According to Source C, “Our national politics has become a competition for images or between images, rather than between ideals.” This idea can lead to consequences because the person who has a better personality is not guaranteed to be the one who is more capable of leading a country. When the unqualified person is chosen to lead the country, then its citizens will suffer. In source B, the author states, “ Because of television’s celebrity system, Presidents are losing their distinctiveness as social actors and hence are often judged by standards formerly used to assess rock singers and movie stars.” Chances are people who are rock singers and movie stars do not know how to run a country because they focus only on their own image and prioritize that above everything else. In the case of an election, the president should be someone who holds up to the ideals of democracy. With the help of the television, candidate's actions are monitored at all times. But this influence can potentially transform the election into a personality contest that defeats the purpose of a fair

In his masterful first inaugural address, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt strove to inspire confidence and hope towards him, the government, and in the people themselves.Using the three parts of rhetoric, ethos, pathos, and logos, Roosevelt did three main actions that made the inaugural address succeed: while speaking of the evils of the depression, he contrasted it with reaffirming values of the American people, Roosevelt detailed his plan to make America get out of the depression, and finally, asked, not demanded, the people to put their faith in him. And through that, he managed to begin working to end the American Great Depression.

In campaigning, media coverage plays a large role for candidates. They use the media to make their name heard and image seen. “Nearly everything a candidate does is geared toward the media, especially television” (Stuckey, 1999, p. 99) Candidates make appearances on talk shows,