Well today was the fiftieth anniversary of John F. Kennedy's inaugural address. Though it is not necessarily a current event, I thought it would be interesting to try to note similarities and differences between Kennedy's speech and the speeches of modern-day politicians.
Kennedy was very effective at praising his audience which encouraged those that he spoke to listen to his message. He mentions several times that the generation of Americans alive now are unique and have a special destiny to promote freedom across the globe. When addressing global affairs, Kennedy offers a hand of peace to help establish cooperation across the world rather than take aggressive action when disputes occur. His messages are very encouraging and optimistic, making promises of goodwill and charity to assist those less fortunate than the United States.
Kennedy's mastery of positive rhetoric is very similar to the current president Barack Obama. Both put forth idealistic goals that challenge the better ideals of the American citizenry.
This is a cool similarity that you noticed. I guess it's possible that Obama also studied great speeches from the past and figured out the most effective strategies.
ReplyDeletePraising the audience does seem like a good technique, since people always seem more willing to listen when they're being complimented.