The Presidential Inaugural Address essays

The Presidential Inaugural Address essays Over the course of the next several months, both presidential nominees will make many speeches in their efforts to campaign for president. However, after the election is overand the last presidential election was not over in the year 2000 until long after Novemberthe president must make an inaugural address in January on the steps of the Capitol building to bring the nation together after a long and divisive campaign. Unlike the campaign speeches, this speech must not be partisan or divisive in the nature of its tone. It must be positive, rather than negative in its use of rhetoric. It must set the stage for the president's entire administration in terms of firmly establishing his vision for the country. It must speak to the world rather than to just the American voters. It must also speak to both houses of congress, republicans and Because of these factors, presidents tend to use poetic and rhetorical tropes when expressing themselves in their inaugural addresses. One of the classic rhetorical uses of antithesis, for example, or the pairing of two unlike ideas with similar phrases is John F. Kennedy's "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Note too how Kennedy addresses the young people of the nation, rather than taking any political jibes at his opposition. Even though he was advocating a policy change in terms of creating the Peace Core, he discusses service in positive terms, rather than in the tone of an advocate The president who speaks in January to the nation must speak to a divided nation, frustrated over a protracted Iraqi commitment, higher costs of living in the form of higher oil prices, and a still shaky economy. Whether this president's name is Kerry or Bush, he must inspire the people not simply to believe in him, but to help him heal the nation, the Iraqi ...