Comparison of Barack Obama's Speech on Race with Lincoln's - Research Paper Example

Comparison of Barack Obama’s speech on race with Lincoln’s This essay offers a comparison between the speech given by Abraham Lincoln at the CooperUnion in New York on February 27, 1860 and Barack Obama’s speech at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on March 16, 2008. There were several similarities between the two men; both lawyers from Illinois and relatively young when they delivered their speeches – Lincoln was fifty one and Obama was forty six. In their own way, both men were considered different from others and did not fit the mould of the normal politician – Lincoln was a tall, gangly, self educated man raised in the backwoods of Kentucky, and Obama – a man of mixed breed who had spent his youth in Hawaii was likewise considered to be something of an outsider. Both of them made landmark speeches for their time, going against the prevailing tide and espousing a new wave of inspirational thought and vision; a new direction for the country to make. The speeches were delivered years apart, yet both have gone down into the annals of the unforgettable in the United States of America. The speeches of both these great men on slavery were founded around the Constitution, using it as the foundational fabric upon which they based their arguments, using their eloquence to draw their listeners into sympathy for the plight of those caught in the cruel bonds of slavery. Obama’s speeches use many of Lincoln’s tactics to draw the attention of his listeners. The styles of the speeches are similar in that they use the question and answer technique to put across an important point in a manner that catches the attention of the listeners. Secondly, Obama’s speech resembles Lincoln’s in its use of allusions and the power of oratory, to strike a chord deep within the listener. Both Obama and Lincoln dealt with the issue of race in their respective speeches. Lincoln commenced his speech by speaking about the founding fathers, who, “when they framed the Government under which we live, understood this question just as well, and even better, than we do now.”(www.showcase.netins.net). Barack Obama commenced his speech in a similar vein, with a reference to the founding fathers – “We, the people, in order to form a more perfect union” as the founding fathers had formulated in the Constitution. At the outset, the structure of the speeches is similar. They commence with a discussion of the Constitution and slavery’s place in it, followed by significant sections of the speeches being devoted to one specific person – John Brown in Lincoln’s case and Jeremiah Wright in Obama’s case. One of the similarities between the structure of Lincoln’s speech and Obama’s speech is the manner in which they frame questions and then provide the answers to those questions. Lincoln, after articulating the statement mentioned earlier, questions - how was the government framed? What was the question the founding fathers understood? and then proceeds to answer those questions. Barack Obama follows a similar pattern in his speech, when he discusses Reverend Wright - did he know him? Did he hear him making controversial remarks? Did he disagree with him? Then he uses the answers to these questions as the basis upon he establishes that while the Reverend Wright had been his pastor, this did not necessarily mean he endorsed his views. Lincoln’s speeches were memorable because of his use of rhetorical devices such as allusion, alliteration and repetition. According to Oppenheimer(2007), the best speeches are almost never wholly self contained, they possess resonance, or the ability to strike chords in the listener. He states that the power of oratory without allusion is no more than a motivational speech. Oppenheimer (2007) points out that Martin Luther King, in his speeches, also demonstrated this ability to include allusions within the body of his speeches. In his “I have a dream” speech, King alludes to Lincoln with his reference to “five score years ago”. In his reference to the issue of slavery, Lincoln uses a similar eloquence in order to promote the cause of slavery and the stamp of legitimacy it had been provided by the voice of the voters. He says, “there is a judgment and a feeling against slavery in this nation, which cast at least a million and a half of votes.......You can scarcely scatter and disperse an army which has been formed into order in the face of your heaviest fire.” Lincoln is using the allusion of a huge and unbeatable army of God to buttress the force in favour of slavery. Examples of Obama’s use of allusion in his speeches may be noted in the way he drew the attention of his listeners to the Declaration of Independence during the Democratic Convention of 2004. He also called his listeners to a belief in “things not seen”, which strikes a resonant note within listeners, drawing its allusion from the book of Hebrews in the Bible. Another aspect in which the speeches of Lincoln and Obama are similar is the rhetorical device of the “rule of three” which utilizes the powerful tool of repetition to emphasize the message that is being conveyed in the speech. In his speech against slavery, Lincoln relies upon the phrase “our fathers, who framed the Government under which we live, understood this question just as well, and even better, than we do now,” and this phrase is repeated each time Lincoln is trying to prove a point. He uses it in reference to the Dred Scot discussion, and to his discussion about John Brown. Barack Obama, in his speech announcing his Presidency, uses the same rhetorical device of the rule of three. He starts with “In the face of…..” and with each sentence, highlights three different aspects that his listeners believe in. Similarly, he highlights what has been achieved so far by starting three sentences with “That’s why we…..” pointing out that the death penalty system was reformed, health insurance was provided to children, etc. The exact purpose of Obama and Lincoln’s speeches may be different, but there are several similarities in the mode of delivery of the speeches. Both these speakers use the lyrical, rhythmic mode of speaking that has its roots in their religious backgrounds – Lincoln in the back woods of Kentucky with a religious mother and Barack Obama with his background in churches. Both these speakers are able to motivate and inspire their listeners, striking chords deep in the listeners’ hearts. Obama uses the rule of three: “Let’s be the generation that….” while Lincoln uses the “Our fathers who framed the Government” to convey their vision of America and the rights she should espouse and stand for. In this aspect, they are able to unite all their listeners, irrespective of their race and creed and earn the respect of all their listeners. Lincoln had to reach out to audiences comprising confederates and Unionists who were on opposite sides of the fence on the issue of slavery. Obama had to reach out to an audience comprising individuals of various ethnic and racial backgrounds. The common fabric binding them was the fact that they were all Americans and both Lincoln and Obama thus moved back to the common foundation they all shared – the values and ideals that were formulated by the founding fathers of the nation when they came together to write the constitution of the United States; the dream that they all saw for a strong and united America – a dream that all Americans, irrespective of their position on slavery and irrespective of their ethnic origin, could identify with. Obama’s speech thus shares many similarities with Lincoln’s speech. These men were separated by many decades, yet each in his own way, had to make a case to an audience that was not in favour of the arguments they were themselves propounding. Both these men were therefore faced with the task of convincing their audiences, bringing them around to their point of view and changing their minds. Both these men built their speech upon the foundation of the Constitution and the underlying intent that could be noted in the words of the founding fathers; the express understanding that they knew the ideal towards which they were aspiring. In this way, both men sought to inspire their audiences and draw their vision upwards towards a utopian state and away from the harsh realities. Instead, they showed them the potential path, to make a move away from harsh realities such as slavery in order to move further towards the achievement of the utopian ideal laid out by the founding fathers in the Constitution. The principles of the Constitution are thus the very foundation of both speeches; but these speeches benefitted from the sheer eloquence and power of oratory of both these men, who were able to use allusions and repetition effectively to ensure that they got their message across. The speeches are also different, in that Lincoln’s is more matter of fact while Obama’s oratory is more in the style of a pastor or preacher. Moreover, Lincoln addresses two or three different issues in his speech, but Obama’s speech is primarily directed towards addressing the audience’s concerns about his association with Jeremiah Wright. Nevertheless, there are remarkable similarities as outlined above, in the two speeches which were many decades apart. References: * Full text of the4 Cooper Union Address. Retrieved October 28, 2010 from: http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/cooper.htm * “Full Text of Barack Obama’s announcement for president” Retrieved April 5, 2008 from: http://www.barackobama.com/2007/02/10/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_11.php * Oppenheimer, Mark, 2007. “The Power of Dreams”, The Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2007. 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