"A More Perfect Union" is a speech delivered by then-Senator Barack Obama on March 18, 2008, in the course of the 2008 United States presidential campaign. The speech was delivered at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and addressed the issue of race in the United States and particularly the role that Obama's controversial former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, had played in the campaign.
In the speech, Obama sought to address the controversy surrounding Wright and his inflammatory comments, while at the same time offering a larger vision of racial unity and reconciliation. He began by acknowledging the deep-seated racism that has long plagued the United States, noting that "race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society." He then went on to discuss the history of race in America, from the country's founding to the present day, and how this history has shaped the nation's politics and culture.
Obama argued that the best way to move forward and overcome the divisions of the past is to engage in a "genuine conversation" about race. He argued that this conversation must involve both listening to and understanding the experiences of people from different racial backgrounds, as well as acknowledging the ways in which individual and institutional racism continue to exist in American society.
One of the most powerful moments of the speech came when Obama addressed the issue of Wright directly. He acknowledged that Wright had made statements that were "not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all."
However, Obama also made it clear that he did not believe Wright's statements were representative of the larger black community, or of the values of the church in which he had been raised. He argued that Wright's comments should be seen in the context of a larger history of racial injustice and frustration, and that they should not be used to demonize the entire African American community.
Overall, "A More Perfect Union" was a powerful and eloquent call for racial unity and understanding in the United States. Obama's willingness to engage with difficult issues of race and to acknowledge the continued presence of racism in American society was seen as both courageous and necessary. The speech was widely praised and helped to solidify Obama's reputation as a thoughtful and compassionate leader.
Seven years ago today: Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” speech
Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother — a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe. A man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another, to care for the sick and lift up the poor. Be that as it may, the speech accomplished what it presumably set out to do. Obama then presented a choice to his audience. Why not join another church? Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time. He does not say health care or the economy. For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past.
Logos, ethos, and pathos in A More Perfect Union
What we have already achieved gives us hope, the audacity to hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow. Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. The speech should have ended there, frankly. Learn more Logical Fallacies: Barack Obama also makes use of repetition as a rhetorical approach to convince his voters. But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slave owners, an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. In his speech Paragraph 45, he pleads with his audience not to accept to be divided along their areas of weakness.
A More Perfect Union
In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies , we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country—a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old—is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. Given the fact that Obama leads the latest CNN poll of national Democratic voters as well as beats McCain in head-to-head polling, I am not sure how you can say that a majority of anyone except, perhaps, crazed, irrational pundits things the Wright issue is anything of import. Conclusion This extensive argumentative analysis has revealed that Obama used different rhetorical elements to talk cautiously about a topic on race that many would not dare to discuss. In his entire speech, there is a constant repetition of the word race.
Summary and Response to Obama’s “A More Perfect Union”
He warns them that silence on racism would not solve anything. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. But I have asserted a firm conviction — a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people — that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. And then another one.
