Weekly Writing One

The second tenant of Dr. Peter Marston’s definition of rhetoric, “rhetoric is addressed”, is especially relevant to Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. According to Marston, rhetoric is addressed to an audience and the specific audience of a speech dictates how it is delivered.  This includes the speaker’s choice of words and the content and themes of the message itself. At political events like the DNC, the present audience is as much a part of the speech as the orator.  The “addressed” portion of the speech becomes so pronounced that it seems like by analyzing how the rhetoric addresses the audience, Marston’s other rhetorical tenants also come into view. 

At the very beginning of the speech, Michelle identifies herself the way that she wants the audience to see her, as a sister, a wife, a mom, and a daughter.  She casts the audience in a role of middle-class, hard-working America.  These rhetorical choices are both situational and advisory. Rhetoric is advisory since the rhetor’s speech reflects the values and world-view of its audience.  And this particular rhetorical situation allows Michelle to work in the realm of middle class American culture and to rely on stories and anecdotes about American values and hard work.  Because Michelle is addressing middle-class Americas, she brings up middle-class concerns—having only one working parent, worrying about education, missing a family member who is in the military.  She casts her and her husband’s families as regular middle class families—her blue-collar father and stay at home mother make sure that their children are educated despite the hard work involved. The hidden mastery of this speech is evident in how Michelle uses examples that draw the audience to stand by her, relating with her (and, by extension, her husband), instead of gazing at her objectively as a politician.

With live and repeated broadcasts over the internet and on television, the wide expanses of engaged and emotion-touched faces, brilliant blue signs emblazoned with "Michelle" or, "Common Values, Common Purpose", and Michelle Obama’s gentle and encouraging speaking style are all stylistic rhetorical choices that are dictated by how the speaker wishes to impact the audience.  The style of the speech does not only include the verbal message, but also the elements that make up the atmospheric and visual aesthetic of the rhetoric of Michelle’s speech.  The latter sign reinforces the idea of unity that transcends hardship and celebrates achievement through hard work, collaboration, and sacrifice—ideas that Michelle emphasized with stories about her father's MS, Barack Obama’s single mother, financial hardship, and parenting.  The present and viewing audiences were certainly in mind when the aesthetic choice was made to incorporate signs that show support for Michelle and the values she addresses.  These images are recast in video format as a sea of waving blue signs with Michelle’s speech giving the narrative behind the images.  This rhetorical styling, employing visuals and a scale that complements the speech, gives the audience, whether present or viewing from afar, the impression of a speaker who shares their values with widespread agreement from other audience members.

            Michelle Obama recognizes her audience at the DNC and addresses them accordingly with her emphasis on values, her manner of addressing middle-class concerns, and the larger visual reinforcement of her message.  Throughout her address, she repeatedly links herself and her husband with the American people by employing situational, advisory, and stylized rhetorical elements that are tailored specifically to her audience.