Elaine Wang
Carpenter
American Literature Honors 6
15 January 2016

In his final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama reflects on his regrets, but also expresses his desires for the future. He explains his beliefs on what is truly American leadership and democracy, and criticizes the the lack of unity and motivation for a better nation. Obama’s use of anaphora and parallelism, coupled with logical, ego-boosting statements, allow him to present a more persuasive and well rounded argument of what he believes America should carry on to become.

Obama first addresses the issue of America’s constant involvement with other countries, but spins it in a way in which it appeals to the people’s greatest ethos: themselves. He makes it so that America’s involvement with other countries is not about charity and wasting resources, but rather about themselves. Obama employs anaphora and parallel structure with the phrase “when we” followed by a positively connotated verb. America “leads”, “helps”, “defends” all these other nations not only because it’s the “right thing to do”, but because it is helpful to America and its citizens. He does this because not everyone believes that these actions are the “right thing to do”, and these beliefs are cause for rampant distrust and lack of confidence in American leadership.

Obama is appealing to both sides of the argument when he states that politics should not be based upon race or religion because “diversity” and “openness” is what makes America strong and worthy of respect, not political correctness. He references Pope Francis when he states that insults to others simply because they are different is “just wrong”. Through this reference, Obama is appealing and increasing the credibility of his words in the eyes of the religious side of many Americans. He connects this idea back to his statements of America’s position in the world; the diversity and openness America is known for will become more and more disparaged if politics are reduced to “imitat[ing] the hatred and violence of tyrants” and calling fellow citizens belittling names. These actions don’t do anything to make America safer, it only “diminishes us in the eyes of the world”.

The president further expresses his beliefs on what has become of America’s democracy, and the effects that lack of unity in the nation will result in in the future. Through repetition and slight cataplexis, Obama repeats that democracy will break down if all that is heard is of the “rich or the powerful”. If all that is heard is of “the most extreme” voices. He is calling the people to raise their opinions and is especially appealing to the minority citizens that “feel their voice doesn’t matter”. Obama continues to make his speech more and more personal as he uses the words “us” and “I”; he states, “my fellow Americans,” saying that he cannot change America on his own. No president, or congressman, or senator can. “We” have to do it together. Again using anaphora, Obama starts consecutive sentences with “we” as to give the impression that everyone can do something to make America better because nobody can do it alone, no matter how rich or powerful they are. While, he states, it is easier to remain “cynical” and “accept that change is not possible”, by doing so, “we” are forsaking a better future, and—tying his final words back to his first point—apathy only serves to “contradict[] everything that makes us the envy of the world”.

Ultimately, through his final address, Obama uses various rhetorical devices—such as anaphora and appeal to ego—as a means to convince America that a lot of what he did was for the sake of preserving American leadership, but he follows by stating that despite what it seems, no one person can do such a great task alone. He humbles himself by comparing his regrets with the successes of Lincoln or Roosevelt, but he ultimately leaves his listeners with the idea that their voices matter and that they shouldn’t take the easy path of cynicality, and keep America a nation to be envious of through, not only militaristic strength, but also leadership, diversity, and acceptance.