In Barack Obama's speech, "A More Perfect Union" he starts off by quoting a line from the preamble in the Constitution of the United States..."We The People, in order to form a more perfect union". He then goes on to state that it would take more than just words on a parchment to end slavery, it would take people who are willing to do their part through protests and struggles. This is similar to what is occurring in present day America, it is going to take more than just words to end the racism that is happening in our nation. The Constitution itself said that all men are equal, but the idea wasn't necessarily put in to practice. Obama then goes on to state that he is the son of a Kenyan man and a White women and how there was a lot of criticism about his supporters only supporting him because of his race. His pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright spoke some controversial words about the issue of racism which caused many people to become upset. He defended his pastor by saying that he was a good man and that he has helped introduce him to Christianity, strengthened his faith and even baptized his children. As a solution, Obama stated that as a nation we need to come together to help improve our lives, our schools, health care and jobs.
Obama does point out that we all have one common goal and that is to improve our society. Racism seems to be a problem that will always exist in our society, but it is up to us to change that. Some people are brought up only knowing how to offend other races and not accept them. This is a problem that stems back from past generations and who knows if it will ever be solved. Obama makes it clear that we are all one nation and that we have to work together to fix the issues.
I think that Obama makes a clear argument throughout his speech, but as a society we truly have many issues that we need to fix. It is up to us to come together to fix them, because we are all Americans and we are all striving for one common goal.
I wanted to add that Barack Obama’s logic seems to be related to previous historical events. He compares current economic and social crisis in America now to economic and social crisis in America from 1920-1960. He uses old historical events such as brown vs the board of education to show that the flaws of that case have affected America today. Altogether, Barack Obama’s use of previous historical events help his argument by showing that “history repeats itself.” Once again America is becoming even more separate in terms of economic income. Health care has also declined and American’s are not as healthy as they can be. Some of the holes in his argument are his lack of connection with a younger generation. Throughout a majority of his speech, Barack Obama brings up old historical events that older generations can relate to. In his speech, Obama brings up his white grandmother and how much she loved him regardless of his skin color. However, his grandmother had witnessed the entire civil rights movements, adding depth to his point. This can also be a flaw because his usage of historical events fail to grasp the emotion of the younger audience because they have never experienced events. If Obama was able to connect to a younger group of people, I feel that his argument would have been a lot stronger. Nonetheless, his argument is strong and it’s fair to see why he was elected as president. He was able to connect his personal story with a struggling America and showed that, although times are tough, the country has recovered from dark times before.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gustavo’s post on how Obama uses historical events to remind the nation that history is repeating itself. Along with using historical events, Obama talks about how the media and some politicians exploit racism just to get more votes and the citizens rowdy up. America is divided and the only way to keep it from dividing even more is if we all, as a nation work together to stop racism. Although, it will be hard since it seems that it’s deeply rooted into our country I believe we all can put a stop to it. After reading Obama’s speech it made me see him in a different perspective, I really liked his speech and the way he talked about Reverend Wright. Another point that I agree with is that Obama doesn’t connect with the younger generation since we have never been through what our older generation went. The young generation cannot relate to the Great Depression, Civil Rights Movement, or segregation of schools. We can learn from the mistakes and not let it repeat itself. But seriously, our generation needs quite a lot of improvement. The argument Obama is trying to make is to better our country, improve our communities, and education. We all Americans want one thing and that’s to see our country united and strong.
ReplyDeleteI think that Obama did more than just defend his Reverend as being a good man because of his Christian values. Throughout the speech, Obama worked to explain that racism is held in the minds of most, if not all, Americans. African Americans hold resentment against white Americans because they hold memories of oppression. As he mentioned, Reverend Wright grew up in a time where schools were still segregated, discrimination was still prevalent. Today, discrimination still exists, but it is closeted. Not only did Obama explain that Reverend Wright is a good man because he is a Christian man, but he also explained why Wright still holds resentment against white people. He paralleled this point by honestly stating that many White Americans still hold racists feeling against black Americans.It was a really honest and brave speech.The goal of the speech was to unite the American people under the objective to better the lives of everyone, of every skin color, from every neighborhood. I wonder if America will ever be a truly balanced country.
ReplyDeleteThough president Barack Obama wasn't able to reach out to a younger audience, I think his argument still holds true. Yes, it would have made it easier for our generation to understand, but overall the main point of his argument was for us as a society to better ourselves and our surroundings. I think he presented his ideas in a clear tone, but it's up to us as a society to promote change. He represented Reverend Wright in a positive light by sharing his personal story of how Wright helped him. I agree with Krystal's point of how some people are brought up to only accept their own race and not others, but I don't think its an excuse for how some Americans act today. Racism is degrading and disgusting. and if nothing is being done to turn this around, it will never change. It still exists, but is sometimes looked over when it shouldn't be. Though I don't believe that racism will ever end because of it being such a controversial issue, I do think we as a society can improve the way people view others whom are not of the same race. We are all striving for one common goal in our society today and that is to unite Americans and better the lives of everyone. I think president Obama represented his argument well by sharing that we as a society need a lot of improvement. It was a brave argument to make,, but I think his thoughts needed a voice and needed to be heard by society.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gustavo that president Barack Obama uses historical events to relate issues in our nation's past to what is happening now. I think that theoretically this makes total sense and is a legitimate argument, but it is so difficult to compare situations of past generations with today's issues despite similar circumstances. In the end, I do think that the speech was very effective, served its purpose, and also effectively related our economic and social problems of today to those of past generations. I just think it would be more directly effective to the majority of the younger population if he used a more relate-able issue in his argument. If it was not for president Obama's honesty when discussing modern issues, I think the speech would not have been as successful as it was. His brutal honesty and courage is what drove the speech, in my opinion. I also agree with Macee that the purpose was to reach out to society an one unit, rather than to one aspect of the nation. Overall his argument was very solid because it expressed a clearly stated message that the United States as a whole need improvement. If not for his passion and courage involving modern racism issues and his detailed explanations, the argument would have been just explaining our nation's ugly past that only a certain population of the country can relate to and understand.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with what Gustavo pointed out. I believe that he did in fact make a very valid point. The life that is took place in the years between 1920-1960 is a much different life, than the life we live in today. It is very hard to relate situations that happened way back then to events that are happening right now. America is growing more and more each day, it is becoming more diverse. And personally, that is the world and that is how it works. Although, I do believe that president Obama’s speech was very effective and it did serve its purpose relating to economic issues that took place in the past, not so much in the present. I believe that president Obama needs to relate more to our generation, and what is happening to us present day. Lay out information that the present generation can relate to and eventually agree with, because the information from the 1920’s through the 1960’s just is not clicking to us. Overall, I have my doubts about America ever becoming an equal and balanced nation as one. The diversity is what makes America, America. I’m not sure if it will ever be able to change.
ReplyDeleteI am going to agree with the fact that Krystal says we need to come together as a union to rid America of racism. I am not a big fan of Obama but I do like how he addressed the nation just like our founding fathers once did on the topic of people being equal. I don’t believe that racism will ever never end in this country. There will always be some sort of racism no matter what the situation is. I was always unclear of Obama’s religion because of controversial things that the media say about him. But, but since I have read this article about him I now have a better understanding. I commend him for defending his Christian pastor and trying to protect him. Obama was insisting on how history is repeating itself, and by that he means racism. His ideas show that there are still issues present today and that we need people who are willing to do their part through protest and struggle to create a better life for future generations in such a diverse country. I think we need to get together as a country and try our best to stop racism. It is problem that our country has dealt with for many, many years. It is going to be nearly impossible but if we all band together and appreciate the qualities of other races, only then can we end this saddening problem.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Krystal and Gustavo completely. I think Obama used very good logic in his speech, and that the point he made were completely back up and supported. In his use of historical events, he proved to us that every American who believes in the Constitution believes in it's first line. He draws from so much evidence that what we all want, every American, is to overcome our issues - in particular, racism. He gives personal evidence as to know racism can be overcome, through the relationship with his white grandmother. He thinks that on a small scale, and even on a large scale, we as a union can come together and make a change. That is what it is all about. Regardless of if you support Obama, or if you don't, you have to admit that what he is saying is a need for this country. We have to come together as a union, like James said. We have to band together and make it a better environment for everyone. In the end, he tells the story of the brave girl Ashley. We need more Ashley's.
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