Working Thesis Proposal Essay
October 16, 2009
Approximately two years ago, the gentleman who we now recognize as President Barack Hussein Obama, initiated his pursuit to become the 44th president of the United States. Similar to the other 43 presidents who presided before him, he launched a presidential campaign; for February 10, 2007 marked the launch of his candidacy. However, drastically different from his predecessors, he launched a campaign which was unknown to mankind-one which was unique in every sense of the word. He relied on technology-text messaging, video podcast, and emails- as his primary source to relay his message to the citizens of this country. Furthermore, Barack Obama was the first candidate to introduce the combination of rhetoric and technology of the 21st century into his campaign strategy. He currently serves as the first 2.0 president of United States America.
Now, I’m sure that you are wondering how I am going to integrate rhetorical ideologies into the scientific topic of technology and Obama’s presidential campaign. Thus, I’ve developed the following working thesis:” Obama used Aristotle’s techniques of persuasion and technology of the 21st century to persuade Americans to vote him as the 44th President of the United States”. Furthermore, I am going to discuss Aristotle’s techniques of persuasion-ethos (credibility), pathos (emotional), and logos (logical) in regards to how President Obama used each of these techniques through video podcast, text messaging, and emails.
I decided to choose this topic because I am an Obama supporter but I also realize that rhetoric and politics coincide with one another. After exploring rhetoric in great detail in this course thus far, I realized that rhetoric is always incorporated into politics. Thus, I decided that there would be an abundance of information on rhetoric and the role that it plays in politics and technology. Actually, I was correct. I found tons of articles in both the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication and Rhetoric Society Quarterly. Also, our course text, On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civil Discourse will provide a lot of valuable information as well. Needless to say, I also thought that this topic would be quite interesting considering that Obama is the first 2.0 President; I must add that John helped me with his feedback as far as exploring this topic.
Although I chose to explore and research this particular idea, many ideas crossed my mind in regards to possible project topics. Initially, I wanted to explore the similarities between the rhetoric of Dr. King and President Obama because in my opinion they share so many similarities. However, I figured that I wanted to explore a topic that was a bit more precise. So, then I decided to research the rhetoric that President Obama used during the presidential campaign but this topic just seemed too broad; I felt that I needed to focus on one specific area. Thus, I decided that it would be interesting to “dig into” the strategies behind the first successful 2.0 campaign trail and then determine ways to incorporate some of the great rhetorical studies of Aristotle into my research.
In deciding on such a topic, I too had to ask myself “How am I going to “attack” this topic?” In reflecting on the Obama campaign trail, I discovered that I was persuaded to vote for him based off of his credibility (ethos), he appealed to my emotions (pathos), and his logic skills (logos). I felt that Obama understood the pain that I was enduring yet I felt that his campaign also catered to my lifestyle. For instance, I wasn’t always able to catch his speeches or town halls on television because of my schedule but I knew that I could always have the option to tune into podcast. The idea of a presidential candidate using such technology made me feel that he understood the lifestyle of young professional Americans; thus he appealed to my emotions (pathos). Additionally, I received weekly emails and/or text messages updating Obama’s progress in regards to his plan; this helped me to realize that he was a credible person and one who could gain my trust (ethos). Furthermore, I was enthused by the strategies that Obama planned to execute; even American troops were able to tune into podcast for town hall meetings from anywhere around the world to witnesses his logical approach and ask questions (logos).
As previously stated, Obama definitely used technology of the 21st century as a rhetorical tactic to persuade American voters to vote for him. Further, he utilizes Aristotle’s persuasion techniques: ethos, pathos, and logos in his pursuit to become the first 2.0 president. Through my research, I hope to enlighten individuals on the true correlation between rhetoric and technology of the 21st century by way of the savvy Obama campaign strategies.
Sorry this is as late as it is. It’s been kinda one thing after another, but I’ve already whined enough about that. I think.
Anyway, I think this is a great start here, Kristen. It’s a good topic and I think the application of stuff like Aristotle makes sense. But there are two other things you might want to consider too as you get into this. First, don’t forget Walter Ong because the kind of stuff that he’s talking about the impact of technology on writing seems pretty relevant here to me.
Second, there are A TON of resources out there on how technology has influenced and impacted political discourse. Before Obama, the guy who first made use of Internet donating and things like blogs was Howard Dean. So one thing you might want to do is to do some searches on Dean and see if some of what’s recounted there makes sense in relation to Obama. And there is already a bunch of stuff out there on Obama and technology too.
Anyway, I hope that helps. Let me know what else I can do to help you out with this.