Exploring Spoken Vs. Written Rhetoric
I have long admired Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign speech popularly known as ‘we have a lot of work to do’. Delivered in the final weeks of the 2012 presidential campaign, it’s a speech which reaches into the hearts of voters and asks them to do what has historically been asked of all Americans - to believe in their ability to change the future for the better. It has an incredibly crisp and clear brief, targeted towards not just voting for Obama himself, but getting the vote out on behalf of others. Obama taps into his strong community organizational background to encourage his listeners to get others to vote. He reaches across young and old, different economic backgrounds, and pulls hard on the sense of proud civic duty which comes with the privilege of voting.
The speech opens with a reminder of how far not just his journey, but his campaign’s journey has come. How the work has traveled all across America, and how he as the candidate has had the opportunity to listen. It signals from the outset that ‘I hear you’, but also begins the build towards his other powerful slogan of ‘yes we can’ at the crescendo of the speech three minutes later. It recognizes and acknowledges the hunger for a new kind of political leadership in Washington. Obama grabs attention though focusing on what others are doing, and how all Americans have a voice in what happens next, uniting his audience around a common purpose of political change. The sentences are crisp and brief, and there is no quarter given to meandering or personal anecdotes. It is targeted towards the growing velocity of his message, which grows in urgency as he delivers a more and more passionate speech focused on action. He knows where he wants to take his audience, and it far exceeds the ballot booth. He dials up the stakes of the fight, and reminds his audience just what matters. He’s talking about the dreams of people and how to make them a reality.
His reasoning is tight and to the point. He reminds the audience of how far they’ve come, but that the journey is far from over. Of how crucial the last few days are. That no matter what the polls say there is always an opportunity to lose through complacency. In reminding his audience of risk, he positions the solution through action. He calls upon the audience to make phone calls, knock on doors, and to give him their vote. Only then can their dreams of change be achieved. The speech is eloquent and measured, but clearly written for a vocal delivery which builds in volume, passion, and urgency. The pace at which Obama speaks increases during the speech, matching the growing passion he is attempting to foster in his audience. As the crowd’s passion grows, he mirrors and reciprocates that energy and dials up the passion of his delivery. So when he gets to the final closing line of ‘let’s get to work’, there is simply no question of doing otherwise.
