Senator Hillary Clinton, Essay Example

Senator Hillary Clinton, “Presidential Campaign Suspension Speech”

Introduction

Senator Hillary Clinton’s “Presidential Campaign Concession Speech” was delivered on 8 June, 2008. In her speech, most popular female presidential candidate in the history of America, suspended her ground-breaking campaign for the presidency, and summoned her numerous backers to support the candidature of Barak Obama instead. “The way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passion, our strength, and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama, the next President of the United States,” the former first lady proclaimed when addressing her followers at the grand National Building Museum (Clinton, 2008). Mrs. Clinton’s speech was aimed at declaring her support for Obama’s presidency and persuading her voters to follow her example in the name of unity and shared ideals. She also pledged her commitment and expressed gratitude to those eighteen million people who stood for her in the course of the elections.

Ethos

The credibility of Hillary Clinton’s speech is primarily emphasized by the fact she is speaking not for herself, but rather for the common good. When suspending her presidential campaign and practically granting her eighteen million votes to Obama, she does not want herself to be viewed as a looser or a weak fighter. She provides logically consistent and clearly stated arguments for her decision. The listeners observe her words as being sincere and her intentions noble, as these are the ideas she actually promotes in the speech.

Mrs. Clinton proves own credibility by providing detailed examples of dealing personally with her devoted supporters. When telling the touching story of an aged lady, “who was 88 years old and insisted that her daughter bring an absentee ballot to her hospice bedside”, not only does she appeal for human emotions and sentimental feelings, but also convinces the audience of own knowledge about and involvement with such specific individual cases (Clinton, 2008).

Clinton does not ignore or conceal her background. Instead, she uses it as an additional argument for own trustworthiness and sincerity. “I’ve had every opportunity and blessing in my own life, and I want the same for all Americans”, she declares, avoiding aggressive and skeptical public attitude toward her exceptional living conditions and obvious privileges she has enjoyed during the lifetime. What people hate the most about politicians is playing a hypocrite when referring to personal life troubles. Senator Clinton refrains from such irritating remarks, adding: “The challenges that I have faced in this campaign are nothing compared to those that millions of Americans face every day in their own lives. So today I’m going to count my blessings and keep on going” (Clinton, 2008).

In her speech, the former first lady is making frequent allusions to her long-lasting political career and large public service experience. “I’ve been involved in politics and public life in one way or another for four decades”, Mrs. Clinton comments, mentioning, as well, her marriage to the twice-elected democratic president, Bill Clinton. There are few possible reasons to mistrust a woman, who has devoted most of her life to politics and social service and has still remained well-admired and respected by the general public.

Logos

The mission of Senator Clinton’s speech is to persuade her followers to change their preferences and cast own votes for the candidate, whose victory they considered unwanted up till the moment of Clinton’s declaration of campaign suspension. Her purpose, therefore, does not seem to be the one easily achieved. However, when listening to the speech record, one can observe how initially reluctant and disappointed audience turns its hesitation into loudly pronounced approval and support.

Clinton manages to deliver her key points in a consistently logical manner. First of all, she claims herself to be sure of what she is doing. “I have served in the Senate with him [Barak Obama] for four years. I have been in this campaign with him for 16 months. I have stood on the stage and gone toe-to-toe with him in 22 debates. I’ve had a front-row seat to his candidacy, and I have seen his strength and determination, his grace and his grit,” she declares (Clinton, 2008). The presidential candidate does not, therefore, summons her followers to support someone she hardly knows herself. She takes on responsibility for this decision, since she knows it is worth the struggle.

Clinton emphasizes her and Obama’s likeness in terms of the cultural and political milestones that they both have had to achieve to fight the existing barriers and biases. “Children today will grow up taking for granted that an African-American or a woman can, yes, become the president of the United States,” she said proudly, encouraging her backers to stand for a candidate, who, as well as she does, represents the fulfillment of American dream (Clinton, 2008).

Once being Obama’s rival, she now calls for unity of democratic players: “Democratic Party is a family. And now it’s time to restore the ties that bind us together and to come together around the ideals we share, the values we cherish, and the country we love. We may have started on separate journeys, but today our paths have merged” (Clinton, 2008). Clinton argues that the best way to achieve the set goals is to join forces and assist each other in fighting the battle for future prosperity, as “we need each other, to catch each other when we falter, to encourage each other when we lose heart. Some may lead, some may follow, but none of us can go it alone. The changes we’re working for are changes that we can only accomplish together” (Clinton, 2008).

Clinton claims herself to be fighting for democratic, not personal, victory. She declares democracy to be the system of prosperity, “flourishing economy and our [American] leadership for peace and security respected around the world” (Clinton, 2008). Therefore, she wants own candidature suspended in the name of democracy and for the sake of previously lost opportunities. She is logical and credible as she endorses Obama, since instead of criticizing his ways and viewing him as an opponent, she puts trust in him publicly, shifting on to him the promoted tasks of achieving universal health care, returning to fiscal responsibility and a strong middle class, promoting the innovations to make the U.S. energy independent, reducing the threat of global warming and bringing American troops home from Iraq. Clinton does not, however, abandon those who counted on her, but promises “to keep doing what [she] was doing long before the cameras ever showed up and what [she] will be doing long after they’re gone: working to give every American the same opportunities [she] had and working to ensure that every child has the chance to grow up and achieve his or her God- given potential” (Clinton, 2008).

Pathos

Whether the Clinton’s speech sounds credible or not one can clearly perceive when listening to the actual record of her monologue. The former first lady is speaking sincerely and emotionally, provoking her audience to react accordingly. It feels like people are perfectly fascinated by her each phrase, viewing her words as a declaration of truth and fairness.

Clinton uses a lot of emotional appeals while speaking. She addresses her listeners’ feelings associated with the campaign and their personal contributions to its being successfully launched and smoothly ran. She thanks her audience for their hopes, trust, efforts being invested and attempts being made to guarantee her triumph over their common rivals. “Eighteen million of you, from all walks of life — women and men, young and old, Latino and Asian, African- American and Caucasian, rich, poor, and middle-class, gay and straight, you have stood with me”, she declares, encouraging the sense of pride and unity among the followers (Clinton, 2008).

Her speech makes the listeners feel as if she persuades them to fight for own future.  Once again, Clinton makes allusions to specific individual cases, stimulating feelings of sympathy and consideration in those being involved in the campaign. Such is her reference to “the single mom with the young daughter, juggling work and school, who told me [Clinton], “I’m doing it all to better myself for her”, as well as to “the young man in the Marine Corps t-shirt who waited months for medical care and said, “Take care of my buddies over there, and then will you please take care of me?” As her voters “have inspired and touched [her] with the stories of the joys and sorrows that make up the fabric of our lives”, so does she attempt to encourage and touch them (Clinton, 2008).

Clinton employs emotions to persuade her audience of personal sincerity and goodwill. She encourages people to listen to her proclamations, without, however, manipulating their feelings, but rather addressing each one’s personal worries and experiences. Presidential candidate frequently appeals to the audience’s patriotic feelings. She treats her supporters as those, able and willing to make a change, individuals who evidence the historically significant moment, the turning point in the American history. Arousing the feeling of self-importance and responsibility in her listeners, she encourages them to “always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. And, when you stumble, keep faith. And, when you’re knocked down, get right back up and never listen to anyone who says you can’t or shouldn’t go on” for “the dreams we share are worth fighting for,” – words that can inspire even the most politically ignorant human being (Clinton, 2008).

Argument analyses

One of the arguments presented by former first lady in favor of endorsing Barak Obama is the fact that he represents a Democratic party. Therefore, Hillary Clinton encourages her followers to vote for a democrat in the first place.  One of the reasons she does so is her wide experience of being a democratic president’s wife and occupying the position of a first lady for two presidential terms of office. Mrs. Clinton alludes to her first-hand political experience and declares as an evidence for her claim: “We made tremendous progress during the ’90s under a Democratic President, with a flourishing economy and our leadership for peace and security respected around the world.” According to Clinton, the reason why Americans should vote for Obama is that the moment finally came to compensate the “lost opportunities of these past seven years on the environment and the economy, on health care and civil rights, on education, foreign policy and the Supreme Court. Imagine how far we could have come, how much we could have achieved if we had just had a Democrat in the White House.” Barak Obama is a worthy candidate, who “has lived the American dream, as a community organizer, in the State Senate, as a United States senator. He has dedicated himself to ensuring the dream is realized. And in this campaign, he has inspired so many to become involved in the democratic process and invested in our common future” (Clinton, 2008).

Speech analysis

Hillary Clinton’s speech is bright and effectively worded. It contains numerous exclamations and slogans that are expressive, strong and inspiring. Clinton uses ethos skillfully. She gains credibility without much effort, with the help of her mere voice and emotional tone. She addresses her supporters as thought knowing them all personally, thus creating an atmosphere of intimacy and utmost trust.

Clinton’s arguments are logical and seem to make sense to anyone who cares about the outcomes of the elections. She communicates to the audience her personal ideas and convictions with much energy, but without trying to thrust them on her listeners. Her appeal sounds like if being addressed to her closest friends, whose opinion she values and whose decision she respects. Her key argument is self-confidence and certainty of the rightness of a taken decision.

Clinton, however, seems to rely more on emotional appeals rather than effectively evidenced arguments. Her grounds are rational and clearly stated, but her speech is more about addressing people’s feelings, sentiments related to participation in campaign, personal worries and anticipations, rather than encouraging them to use pure reason and make a choice based on evident rationale.

Clinton seems to use pathos more effectively than any other proofs. Nevertheless, her speech does not fail to be logically structured and gain overall credibility. She sounds persuasive and effectively advocates for the taken position. Her evidences are credible and her reasoning is believable. When listening to the speech, I felt convinced and inspired, which signifies the speaker reached her goal, communicated own believes successfully and influenced her listener’s attitude positively. Combining ethos, logos and pathos effectively, balancing them against each other, Clinton makes her audience believe and put trust in her words, which is the most any public speaker can ever hope to achieve.

Conclusion

Recollecting the historical context, in which the Clinton’s Concession Speech occurred, one can conclude by declaring “Yes, she could!” She did influence the results of the elections, and what she aimed at she achieved. Barak Obama won the elections, owing a great deal of personal success to the efforts and exceptional wisdom of a woman, well-liked and appreciated by her electorate. Whether she will keep all her promises or not is still to be seen. But due to the sincerity of her expressions, due to the timely uttered words of wisdom and hope, she managed to encourage millions of Americans to accept her opinion as the most reasonable and right one.

I have enjoyed the speech, and I believe it did convey the message Clinton put in it. True indeed, the most popular female presidential candidate, she invested her soul and heart into the words addressed to her numerous supporters, she used the right language and presented the right arguments that reached the ears and hearts of those “involved in the democratic process and invested in our common future” (Clinton, 2008).

References

Clinton, H. R. American Rhetoric. (2008, June 7). Announcing Suspension of Presidential Campaign and Obama Support. Retrieved April 22, 2010, form http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/hillaryclintoncampaignsuspensionspeech.htm