Blog Entry #2

Brittany Hughes

1/15/13

Carol O’Shea

After reading “The Connection Between Faith and Politics”, it is obvious that Barak Obama has used some rhetorical strategies throughout the entire text. One obvious rhetorical strategy that Obama used while writing the text was “Using Emotions to Sustain an Argument”. Any reader reading this passage can come to the conclusion that Obama is upset because faith and religion is being brought up during the election in a negative way. Obama states, “No matter how religious they may or may not be, people are tired of seeing faith used as a tool of attack. They don't want faith used to belittle or to divide”. This not only shows how Obama is upset about faith being used in a negative, but he also speaks for everyone else. Another Rhetorical strategy that was used was, “Using Emotion to Build Bridges”, this rhetorical strategy uses emotions to connect with the readers letting them know that you understand their experiences. Mr. Obama does this well by stating that he at first was not a true Christian. That he had to overcome some obstacles to get to where he is when it comes to his faith. “Christians who I worked with recognized themselves in me. They saw that I knew their Book and that I shared their values and sang their songs. But they sensed that a part of me that remained removed, detached, that I was an observer in their midst.” Although Obama was uncertain about his faith, sooner than later he found out where he belonged in the church. One rhetorical strategy that wasn’t used wisely was “Coming Clean about Motives”. Some questions could be aroused from this article questioning his motives. Obama doesn’t state whether or not he has specific motives, and he also does not come clean about not having any.