The Preezy of the United Steezy, a.k.a The Barackness Monster, a.k.a The P.O.T.U.S

Obama has done a good job, in my opinion, with appealing to the younger voters. He uses a great deal of pathos and a clear logos when addressing the younger demographic. Romney doesn’t make a strong attempt to reach out to the young voters as Obama. Obamas use of social media is a great way for him to reach that  young demographic, to seem like an everyday man, a man that is cool, does and uses the same things younger voters do. Of course his aim is both political and whole hearted, at least thats how it comes off. 

He has made great use of certain appearances he makes to address the younger demographic. Appearing on late night talk shows who’s main viewers are college students. Appearing at basketball games and talking with the players to seem like the casual sports fan, an everyday man that voters can relate to. Obama seems to emulate friendliness and funny, the president who can take his job seriously and also poke fun at himself. I’ve looked and picked apart a certain areas of Obamas attempt to relate and understand the younger voters. 

Obama uses a great deal of ethos with his appearance on Jimmy Fallons talk show. By  just coming on the show and participate in a goofy skit utilizes litotes, downplaying ones accomplishments, to seem humble but he also makes sure to address the crowd as President Barack Obama so they have, this is the president speaking to us, fresh in their mind Fallons core demographic of adults is 18 - 34, with college students making up the majority of people who go to his tapings, Obama picked the right topic to address the crowd. Seeming like the kind of president who can have fun and still get to business appeals to the young voter. Appearing on a late night talk show also emulates a sense of humbleness since its a talk show and not directly a news outlet. He makes the crowd feel as though he came to speak to just them tonight. Choosing this specific night was a a great decision on Obamas part since Jimmy Fallon taped his show off site at The University of North Carolina. He addressed an audience of 1,434 as opposed to the much smaller amount back at studio 6B where Fallon usually tapes his show. Obama had a better chance to directly speak with a lot of college students, his topic of course was the rising costs of college tuition. At the end of his bit Obama dropped the mic to excite the audience and again seem cool, always doing his best to seem like the cool president. By addressing the audience as part of his plan to keep college affordable Obama utilizes communicatio, to include one's audience overtly in a discourse. He adresses the rise of loans and uses “you” to connect the problem he wants to solve directly with the audience, which is filled with college students, referring back to the problem as something he will take care of by saying “I have called on congress” to reaffirm the sepertion between the audiences needs and what he is doing to address them. This is also another way of Obama saying his side is against raising costs of college tuition while the other side is for it. 

Another way Obama makes himself seem like an everyday guy is with his love for basketball. I can’t think of any president who has used his interest in sports to his advantage as much as Obama. He does his best to appear at games, meet with players, and appearing on ESPN to fill out his NCAA mens and woman's basketball tournament bracket. Again he picks the right spots to get votes. He is able to seem like a casual basketball fan while still maintaining his presidential status. He is able to go in and out of using specific language depending on who he is addressing. Obama uses aschematiston, the use of plain, unadorned or un-ornamented language and soraismus, to mingle different languages affectedly, to appeal to specific groups. When visiting with the United States mens basketball team his use of language switches from serious political language to simple and slang language. Obama speaks this way with regards to talking basketball knowledge, that basketball is something he enjoys. When addressing the rookie of the team he says “what are ya’ll doing with this rookie man, is he carrying the bgs and stuff” his language is relaxed and simple, relating to the members of the team, coming off as friendly. But it also shows how he understands the traditions of rookie basketball players joining a new team so he comes off as someone who truly enjoys the game and its history. 

Then when he addresses the team as a whole, including the coaching staff, in terms of what they mean to the United States, Obama goes right back into his formal use of language, again showing he is the president and knows when to be serious. The whole time he switches back and forth between the uses of language it seems genuine which is what voters want to see. Hanging out with the basketball players and getting to know them helps Obama reach other outlets. Of course it helps along his aim at getting the black vote and the young vote but it also persuades others to be relaxed towards him, to relate with him, to see their president associating himself passionately with a sport that everyday people do. 

Obama knows that young voters are tech savvy, that they enjoy using web based tools to get their news. By using the same outlets the young voters are used to Obama again seems cool and actually willing to try and communicate with them with something they’re familiar with. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit all convey a sense of close connection between Obama and those following him on these social networks. Reddit in particular is used to connect with voters closely. Again Obama seems like a cool, friendly, and relatable president. Reddits main users age from 25 - 34 and are either in college or have had a college education. So using Reddit as an outlet gives him another unique opportunity to communicate with college students in an environment that is both personal and familiar with current social networking. He is able to relate with the young voter by using the website but can convey the sense of leadership wanted in a president by answering the questions in a serious tone. 

Here is a link to the Reddit site where Obama answered various questions 

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obama_president_of_the_united_states/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=feed

There’s one particular question that Obama answered that want to show here and pick apart. 

 Q - I am recent law school graduate. Despite graduating from a top school, I find myself unemployed with a large student loan debt burden. While I'm sure my immediate prospects will improve in time, it's difficult to be optimistic about the future knowing that my ability to live a productive life -- to have a fulfilling career, to buy a house, to someday raise a family -- is hampered by my debt and the bleak economic outlook for young people. I know that I'm not alone in feeling this way. Many of us are demoralized. Your 2008 campaign was successful in large part due to the efforts of younger demographics. We worked for you, we campaigned for you, and we turned out in record numbers to vote for you. What can I say to encourage those in similar situations as I am to show up again in November? What hope can you offer us for your second term?

A - I understand how tough it is out there for recent grads. You're right - your long term prospects are great, but that doesn't help in the short term. Obviously some of the steps we have taken already help young people at the start of their careers. Because of the health care bill, you can stay on your parent's plan until you're twenty six. Because of our student loan bill, we are lowering the debt burdens that young people have to carry. But the key for your future, and all our futures, is an economy that is growing and creating solid middle class jobs - and that's why the choice in this election is so important. The other party has two ideas for growth - more taxs cuts for the wealthy (paid for by raising tax burdens on the middle class and gutting investments like education) and getting rid of regulations we've put in place to control the excesses on wall street and help consumers. These ideas have been tried, they didnt work, and will make the economy worse. I want to keep promoting advanced manufacturing that will bring jobs back to America, promote all-American energy sources (including wind and solar), keep investing in education and make college more affordable, rebuild our infrastructure, invest in science, and reduce our deficit in a balanced way with prudent spending cuts and higher taxes on folks making more than $250,000/year. I don't promise that this will solve all our immediate economic challenges, but my plans will lay the foundation for long term growth for your generation, and for generations to follow. So don't be discouraged - we didn't get into this fix overnight, and we won't get out overnight, but we are making progress and with your help will make more.

Obama nicely speaks to the person asking the question directly using the word “you’re.”

Obama addresses how he has helped lower costs and help out students with the repition of “because” to reaffirm that he has put bills forward to help. He also utilizes a sort of accumulatio, bringing together various points made throughout a speech and presenting them again in a forceful, climactic way, by stating the different points of problems the United States he wishes to solve. He gives himself some wiggle room as well by stating “we didn't get into this fix overnight, and we won't get out overnight, but we are making progress and with your help will make more.” Making sure to put everyone on notice that he is working on solving the issues but it will take time, by not putting any timetable at all by saying “we are making progress” Obama backs himself up by not committing to a specific time he will accomplish these goals. 

Obama also reminds the readers what the other party has planned that are working directly against what he is trying to do to help. He refers to them exactly as “the other party” to put them all in one category, not any specific person, to show how serious the other party is in working against him so he can’t help out those who need it. It puts weight on the other party to address them all being against him. 

I feel that Obama has gone through some great lengths in appealing to young voters. He makes it a point to use any means available to him to reach out to them and relate with them. He emulates that friendliness and cool that any voter would like but young voters especially. Acting funny draws in young voters since he is relaxed but he appeals to older voters as well because even though he is having a good time he addresses the problems of the U.S with a serious tone. On Fallon specifically Obama was part of a funny bit but his part was speaking about a serious topic with serious language while Fallon brought the funny. I admire Obamas attempt to get his ideas and communicate with young voters. His strategy in accomplishing this shows him having a good time when speaking about the issues but never seems like he takes it lightly. 

First cat fight.

I thought the debate was a bit, boring. I felt both candidates spoke about the same things we've already heard without expanding more. Personally I felt that Obama stumbled over his words and thoughts a lot more than Romney. If anything Romney seemed more confident when speaking than Obama. Obama did make more eye contact with the camera than Romney did but Obama didn’t seem as confident as he usually does so it took away his appeal of being under control. he didn’t come off as the commander and chief that had the United States under control. 

When talking about the role of government, Obama stated that “the first role is to keep the american people people safe, it’s the most basic function. As Commander and Chief that is something i’ve worked on and thought about every single day that i’ve been in the oval office.”

Here Obama is asserting his power as president while assuring the american people that he has thought of their safety. I thought it was a great way to put in the back of everyones mind that he is the Commander and Chief, that he is always in the Oval office thinking about the american people. He shows his friendly nature with a subtle prowess, it was one of my favorite lines to think about. 

He chooses his words precisely, he doesn’t say president, we always here that, he says “Commander and Chief” the phrase comes across with more authority. Instead of simply saying the The White House he says “Oval Office” the official room of the president, it paints a picture of decision making a place where only the President is. I think these words were chosen specifically to paint a picture of authority, of importance. 

When speaking on education Obama said “ we gotta reform schools that aren’t working, we used something called race to the top, it wasn’t a top down approach governor..”

Here Obama is talking about education and how schools that aren’t working need to be fixed, he uses it as a quick opportunity to throw a jab at Romney. To suggest that Romney is opposed to reforming schools, he didn’t say it directly that way but is implying he did, anything that can show Romney going against school reform will associate him with not wanting to help schools thus making Obama seem liek the only one fighting for better schools. 

Obama also spoke about the teachers, “in fact we’ve seen layoffs of hundreds of thousands of teachers over the last several years and governor Romney doesn’t believe we need more teachers, I do because I think that is the kind of investment that the federal government can help, they cant do it all but it can make a difference and as a consequence we will have a better trained workforce and that will create jobs because companies want to locate where theres a skilled workforce.”

Here is where I felt Obama hit three key issues being brought up in the debate and used a great logic for how one directly affects the others while again making Romney seem very weak since he portrays him as being against education thus meaning he is against the other things hes referring to. Obama makes the claim that education needs more teachers since many have been laid off and said Romney doesnt believe we do. He follows it a quick “I do” then states that the government can get involved with helping to find more teachers, again answering where the governments role falls on, which creates a better workforce the will create more jobs because companies will go to the areas with the better workforce, Obama uses education as the platform that will lead to better employees and more jobs. By saying this he makes Romney seem like he doesnt believe in eduction so he also doesnt believe in a better workforce or better jobs. 

But Romney had a pretty god response back “I love great schools, Massachusetts, our schools are ranked number one of all 50 states, a key to great schools is great teachers, so I reject the idea that I don’t believe in great teachers or more teachers.”

Here I felt Romney was able to show a strong character of power. He backed up his belief in great schools and teachers by stating that Massachusetts is number one out of all 50 states. Quickly dispelling Obamas previous statement of not caring.

When speaking about the students ability to pay for college Obama uses this other opportunity to throw a jab at Romney and make himself seem like the one who truly understands the students and families that are struggling with eduction costs. 

“Romney believes that students should borrow money from their parents to go to college indicates the degree to which there may not be as much of a focus on the fact that folks like me, or Michelle, or kids who, probably attend the University of Denver don’t have that option. For us to be able to make sure that they’ve got that opportunity to walk through that door is vitally important not just for those kids but to how were going to grow the economy long-term”

Here Obama once again makes himself the President who actually understands the struggles of being a college student, emulating that friendliness and relation to those struggling. He makes sure to directly appeal to those in Denver. A great way to further bring in the attention of those listening to what he is saying. Obama also depicts Romney as the candidate who doesn’t understand the struggle and makes him even seem like more of an unequipped president because he asks students to go to their parents for college money.