TOW #3: Written Text- All I Can Say Is "'Merica"

 On May 1^st, 2010, the United States had received news that not only strengthened their sense of patriotism, but united the nation as a whole. This was the death of Osama bin Laden, which was carried out through the United States. President Barack Obama gave this speech hours after confirmation, because the purpose of it was to not only inform the world about the death of Osama, but also to state why the killing was justifiable and America had ethical reasoning in taking Osama bin Laden’s life.

While the speech was obviously directed towards the citizens of America, the extended audience would be countries from throughout the world, especially ones that have a population of al Qaeda living amongst their people. While the speaker is President Obama, which applies to ethos based off the fact that he is the President of the United States (Ethos that is given, not needed to be earned), there is also an indirect speaker, which is the military and counterterrorism officials. Since these people were the ones that have endlessly searched for Osama, it is obvious that Obama is nearly speaking on their behalf because their efforts now have the ability to be recognized since Osama was successfully killed.

President Obama uses pathos to appeal to his audience based off his use of emotional connections to September 11, 2001. Obama uses phrases such as, “The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother and father”.  Phrases such as this connect to the audience’s emotions, and therefore Obama hopes that the audience will realize how those affected by 9/11 feel about Osama. If the audience can comprehend this concept, they too will now realize that the killing of Osama was justified and America had the right to take his life.

I believe that Obama achieved his purpose of informing, yet persuading the audience that the killing was justified through his use of pathos and also ethos, to appeal to the audience and use their emotions to affect their opinions.

This link contains the manuscript in addition to the video of the speech given by Obama http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/02/osama-bin-laden-dead-obama-speech-video-transcript_n_856122.html