Obama’s Inaugural and State of the Union Address, Essay Example

President Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44^th president of the United States of America and marked his second term as US president. Obama’s theme for his second inaugural address was “Faith in America’s Future”, which emphasizes the virtues of determination, perseverance and harmony. In his second inaugural address, President Barack Obama emphasized the need to strengthen middle class families in the United States. Key policy issues regarding immigration, climate change and gun control also took center stage in the inaugural address. At the initial phase of his address, President Obama highlighted equality and human rights which was articulated in the Declaration of Independence. Obama stated that freedom is indeed a gift from God, but humans must take steps to secure this freedom. He stressed that there is still more progress yet to be made on human and civil rights of United States citizens, particularly the rights of women, the minority groups and for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. Obama also stressed the importance of immigration, gun control and climate change in this decade. Obama assured the public that his administration will respond appropriately to these threats in order to protect the future generations of Americans. He urged America to lead in this area, particularly in climate change and making the transition to support sustainable energy. Inequality of wealth is another issue addressed in this speech and Obama notes that succeed cannot be achieved if wealth is concentrated to the very few while a growing number barely make ends meet. He also acknowledged that rising healthcare costs is another area to be addressed and that agencies such as Medicare and Social Security only serve to strengthen America.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address continues on his inaugural address. He focused again on domestic policy, calling for reforms on taxation, education, immigration, climate change and gun control. The State of the Union Address outlines specific actions he will take in order to implement the goals he stated in his Inaugural address. In the first part of his speech, Obama discussed methods to reduce the United States deficit and debts of citizens. He clearly stressed however, that Social Security and Medicare cannot be sacrificed as it is these programs that protect those who have contributed to the growth of the country. Obama’s second agenda is the protection of middle class citizens and he talked of simplifying the tax code and rewarding businesses that allow the creation of more jobs while penalizing businesses that create jobs overseas. Obama also showed his determination to create more jobs and asked Congress to help achieve this goal through raising the federal minimum wage, the passage of the American Jobs Act and the Women’s Paycheck Fairness Act and by attracting private investors to name a few.

President Obama is known as a great communicator and capturing the interest of millions with his ability to deliver his speeches. It is clear that Obama successfully utilized rhetorics as a strategy when delivering his message to the public, presenting a message of hope and change while imparting his desire to solve the complex socio-economic issues that plague the country. He is able to deliver facts to the public while appealing to their emotions at the same time. Many state that Obama has won the election because of this ability, but I believe that it is a combination of his charisma as a leader and his ability to eloquently express himself that has contributed to his success to achieve a 2^nd term as United States President. It is clear that Obama has a certain presence that emanates power and invokes everyone to listen to his message.