Reconstruction of Implied Situational Understanding in a Rhetorical Act

Rhetorical speaking is particularly important in political careers. President Obama’s speech during his inauguration in 2009 greatly achieved the goals of rhetoric speaking and convinced Americans that they had chosen the right president. This essay is an analysis of the use of rhetoric in Obamas speech. Apparently, President Obamas’ speech assured Americans that they were in safe hands. The speech had many ideas from Americas founding documents and the speech by Martin Luther King which led to revolution in America. What did the rhetoric believe about the situation (and audience) to have acted the way that he or she did? From the speech, it is easy to realize that president Obama wanted to unite the audience because he felt they had been divided by the election wave.

He also wanted to identify with the audience to show that he was a man on the people and was equal to any man among them. He wanted to ensure his audience that each of them was a part of the great work of building the great nation America. Additionally, since this were the people who had elected him, he wants to make them feel that they had made the right choice. From his speech, Obama believes that his audience value their ancestral backgrounds and the roots in which the nation was built. Obama must have had the perception that he is expected to deliver an extraordinary speech and he was determined to do so. He also sees it as his duty to show his audience that he is capable of taking the country as far as possible in terms of economics and development.

Additionally, constraints of a rhetorical situation include events, people, objects and relations, which may be powerful enough, affect the decisions and actions needed to make changes in the exegence. The rhetor in this case must have realized that his speech would be challenged by the presence of opposition team which would definitely challenge his speech. He also understood that the media would have a bargain while they critically analyzed his speech. This are the matters that affect any normal person living in America. Therefore, this means that he perceives the exegence of his speech to be out of necessity rather than duty (Tulis, 2017). He wants to assure every citizen that by working together they would be able to achieve many goals.