President Obama ISIL Address

President Obama starts off his national address with "My fellow Americans..." a simple yet powerful line that he has spoken many times during his six years as President of the land of the free and home of the brave. This signature line catches the audience's attention and allows them to identify with the man in charge, reminding the viewers that Obama is with them, not against them; a very essential concept in getting his message across. The president's main message in his ISIL address is that sending help into the Middle East to defeat ISIL is completely necessary, and America is the one nation that has the power to achieve this task. Throughout his speech, Obama seeks to inform his nation on exactly what the troops will be doing overseas, as well as use subtle persuasive techniques to gain support from American citizens all around the country.

Obama delivers his speech using different examples of powerful and devastating times in American history and American present, as well as hopes for the American future, all while using the same strong, patriotic, matter-of-fact tone that quells all citizens' worries about whether he is making the right decision or not when it comes to sending troops to Iraq. For instance he lists, in detail, all of the steps that the military and government will take in order to make this mission effective. Using a list format with a matter-of-fact tone indicates Obama's confidence about what will result of this mission, and that it will be successful.

The most effective part of the message was towards the end of the speech, when Obama begins to list all of America's great historical accomplishments, beginning each line with, "It is America that..." In these last couple of lines, Obama manages to boost American morale, and persuade the viewer of why America is capable of being successful in this mission to defeat ISIL. Truth Four: Nothing's New, Everything That Happened in the Past Will Happen Again is the media truth that sticks out in this speech. Obama discusses past events of terrorist attacks in America's history and how they are occurring once again; history repeats itself. Pertaining to the media, live broadcasts of President addresses have continued to occur over American history. However, with the evolution of technology, computers have resurfaced the popularity and universality of these speeches due to the fact that they make them more accessible to people around the world, whereas in the past people were limited to the TV as the only medium on which to view such programs.