Obama's Speech - Blog #2

Obama's speech "The Connection Between Faith and Politics" seems to be a speech that is strongly based on Ethos and Pathos. In this case I consider the higher power, or Ethos, to be religion, specifically Christianity. He uses the teachings of the Bible and God, which are higher powers, to emotionally manipulate his audience. He uses these strategies not to help strengthen his speech but to get trust from his audience, to make himself look more credible and to deter the audience from assuming that he might not know what he's talking about. He says, "It was because of these newfound understandings that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ on 95th Street in the Southside of Chicago one day and affirm my Christian faith. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. I didn't fall out in church. The questions I had didn't magically disappear. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt that I heard God's spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth." He uses this strategy at the beginning of his speech to gain his audience's approval and to catch their attention. Because who wants to listen to someone they don't trust? 

In the latter part of his speech he addresses the infusion of religion into government. He mostly uses logos to argue his main points. His main points being that religion has no place in politics because not everyone shares  the same values and worldviews. So, a government based on religion would tear the country apart. Obama says, "Now this is going to be difficult for some who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, as many evangelicals do. But in a pluralistic democracy, we have no choice. Politics depends on our ability to persuade each other of common aims based on a common reality. It involves the compromise, the art of what's possible. At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for compromise. It's the art of the impossible. If God has spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God's edicts, regardless of the consequences. To base one's life on such uncompromising commitments may be sublime, but to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing."