Romney will argue Obama has failed to meet promises - Essay Example

The use of ethos was also inappropriate especially when Romney cited his religion (Mormons) to be the source of his “disciplined character”. In effect, the use of ethos alienated the rest of American voters who are non-Mormons. Political speeches are not board meeting speeches, where informations are stated as a matter of fact. Political speeches are the candidate’s tool to connect to his or her audience, which in this case are the American voters, to move and inspire them to vote for him or her to office.

Romney’s speech may be well intentioned to address the present economic woes of United States which could be the most important issue of the day, but it does not capture the voters imagination. It focused so much on logos such as “to confront the nation’s economic problems” (Shear 1) and little on the effective use of pathos emotional appeal. He may know the problem that is besetting America but his voters does not get it. There were attempt to connect with the audience particularly the women quoting ‘Why should women have any less say than men about the great decisions facing our nation? . . . and that I can still hear her (his mother) saying in her beautiful voice” (Shear 1) but it just sounded so insincere and patronizing.

American voters are sophisticated enough to realize the intention of his statement. It sounded so contrived that it made him looked manipulative that removed the integrity or ethos of the speech. Romney knows the power of ethos in reaching to his audience evident with his attempt to use ethos but he is not as crafty as Obama who speaks in the language of “rising ocean and healing the planet” when he intend to address an issue such as climate change. The article also largely focused on Romney’s candidacy for the Presidency than Obama’s.

It discussed at length Romney’s issue against Obama’s failure as a President citing for example “the disappointment of the last four years” (Shear 1). But despite of the length of his attribution towards Obama’s leadership, he failed to convince voters as the poll would show that Romney remains “Less well liked among voters than Mr. Obama” (Shear 1). The article only cited one instance of Obama’s political snipe at Romney’s character which “portrayed him as a wealthy, out-of-touch business executive who cares more for profit than people” (Shear 1) and it eroded all the character build up or ethos of Romney.

The tirade was craftily composed, despite lacking in logos because it turned Romney’s asset of being a successful entrepreneur who could get things done into a liability. The statement packaged Romney as somebody who is spoiled and out of touch that Americans voters cannot relate. The statement was based more on pathos or an appeal to emotion by painting Romney as an elitist brat in the imagination of American voters. This political branding of course is untrue and lacked basis or lacking in logos because Romney will not be successful as he is now if he is a spoiled brat who lacks a grasp on reality.

But the tirade stuck in the voters’ consciousness and hurt Romney’s image as a leader and alienated him from the consciousness of many Americans. What is more brilliant with the political branding was that Romney does not seem to realize that every time he speaks or people around him speaks business like, the more the political tirade will hold