Obama farewell adress analysis

        This document is made up of extracts from Barack Obama's farewell address in Chicago on January 10th, 2017. Throughout his final public speech, the 44th President of the United States, and the first African American one, spoke to the entire American people since it was broadcast on television and radio stations. He mentioned the achievements of his two-term presidency. After his election in 2008, his administration faced up to the global financial crisis, implemented the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010, took executive action on immigration reform, promoted the fight against global warming, conducted a raid leading to the assassination of Osama Bin Laden in 2011, legalized same-sexe marriage in 2015... However, the country also suffured setbacks and some problems remain. In this speech, Obama praised American democracy, considering it powerful and precious, but he warned about its precarious nature, urging action from the citizens, in order to protect American values to ensure a bright future.

        On the one hand, Obama defended the American Constitution and its fundamental principles, especially the sovereignty of the people guaranteed by one of the most advanced democratic system in the world. He defined the founding documents of the country as “a remarkable, beautiful gift” (l.10) and, to emphasize its importance, quoted George Washington, president of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and first President of the United States. American democracy provides “safety, prosperity and liberty” (l.16), creates “sacred ties” (l.19) gathering and putting on an equal footing all those who “share the same proud title : Citizen” (l.25). By using the pronoun “we”, Obama wanted everyone, from “every corner of the country” (l.49), to feel concerned about his speech and to foster their solidarity. Moreover, he had a very optimistic approach, reflected by positive words such as “joyous” (l.28), “goodness” (l.35), “embrace” (l.51) and “young” (l.55), and the anaphora of “so many” (l. 46-47). As matter of fact, he depicted the American democracy as a whole of possibilities, making everything possible with “the power of ordinary Americans to bring about change” (l.41-42). The parallelism in the sentence about American History (l.55-62), illustrates the fact that “constant change has been America's hallmark” (l.50-51) at the origin of a strong nation. Finally, Obama told the audience about progress that had been made during his presidency and declared “Yes We Can. Yes We Did. Yes We Can” (l.61-63), as a reference to his short striking statement while he was campaigning in 2008, signaling that he accomplished his goals and was hoping to improve the society even more, “to carry this hard work of democracy forward” (l.51-52).

        On the other hand, Obama explained that some threats challenge Americain democracy, which requires therefore all Americans to be its “anxious, jealous guardians” (l.27). He denounced the abstention in the vote, the corruption, the deep and hateful political polarization, discrimination... by using repetitive forms : the anaphoras of “When” (l.2-7) and “We weaken those ties” (l.21-26). Because the Constitution is “just a piece of parchment” (l.10), Obama encouraged the people to work together, to avoid divisiveness and spring to action. Indeed, we find in the text the semantic field of the demand : “demands, needs” (l.30), “ask” (l.56). The orator tried to catch the audience's attention and persuade it to become politically engaged, with the pronoun “you” and the concise antithesis “Show up. Dive in” (l.34-35). According to Obama, enhancing the society is a choice for every American, expressed by “Whether or not” (l.12). He proposed solutions and initiatives such as having an open dialogue with those who disagree, in both political contexts (l.2-7) and everyday life situations (l.30-34) by using forms of parallelism. We can also notice the metaphor “lace up your shoes” (l.33). Even though “accepting the responsibility of citizenship” (l.8-9) is presented as a risk because of a possible disappointment (l.35-36), the idea of hope is predominante in the text with the semantic field : “faith” (l.41), “optimistic” (l.45), “believe” (l.47), “creed” (l.61). Obama conveyed his trust in a “fair, just, inclusive America” (l.56), there with the rule of three, and insisted on the fact that “the future is in good hands” (l.52-53), qualifying the next generation by an accumulation of gratifying adjectives : “unselfish, altruistic, creative, patriotic” (l.49). In the end, he made it clear that he would be an active former president serving the nation.

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