A Grab Bag of Ethos, Pathos, LogosObama is nothing if not a good writer (and a good orator—dude wears many hats) so his speech was chock full of all these handy-dandy rhetorical devices.He made a...

Hansel and Gretel Obama's speech very clearly left a trail of breadcrumbs for you to follow from the beginning to the end. He contextualized his point of view with his own story, his own upbringing...

Honest"What I love most about politics is how genuine everyone is," said no one ever.We probably don't need to tell you how rare it is to listen to a speech or a debate without feeling as though yo...

ConversationalHow do we know you just rolled your eyes? Because you see conversational listed as the writing style for a political speech. But bear with us for a hot second.Obama's speech is the op...

The word "perfect" trips up a lot of people in their everyday lives. Because it's what we all want to be, but few of us ever really achieve it. The same is true of the United States, of our governm...

We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.Two hundred and twenty-one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launc...

But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two hundred and twenty-one years since a band of patriots sign...

(5) Tree LineThe diction—or word choice—in "A More Perfect Union" isn't particularly complicated, and in typical Renegade style, the tone is super conversational. You almost want to nod along,...

Literary and Philosophical ReferencesWilliam Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun; "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past" (77).Historical and Political ReferencesGreat Depression (14)...

Obama was the first sitting president to make an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and he even talked a little bit about equality. The question is, who was truly the most important person in...