In his speech at the Kennedy Space Center, president Obama establishes ethos in a variety of ways. As the president of the United States, Obama comes in with a great deal of extrinsic ethos. Early in his remarks, he draws on the extrinsic ethos of some of the people present in the audience such as astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin. When Obama speaks, as the president and with the support of experts, the audience already has a high level of respect for what he will say.President Obama establishes intrinsic ethos during his speech by referring to specific events in NASA's history. Obama shows that he is familiar with what the program has done, and how it has influenced the United States. By showing that he understands the importance of NASA to the United States., the president establishes a credibility for himself and his calls for a new era of American space exploration.
Obama states that the exploration of space has not only been beneficial to the economy and society as a whole, but has become a part of who Americans are as a people. When Barack Obama speaks with the power of his authority on the nation's need for a continued support of NASA he is extremely convincing.
I agree with all of the claims that you make about the ethos of this text. Whenever a president speaks about an issue it has to be important enough for them to take their time to address. Had anyone other than the president had made this speech it would take on a drastically different perception. If someone at NASA had made these claims people would not be as open to persuasion however since Obama is the president and he is speaking about this issue it automatically means that it is important.
ReplyDeleteBeing the president does come with a lot of credibility. I agree that he is able to capture an audience with his authority and power as he has a strong reputation of being a good presented of a dominant nation. By having a powerful position he is also able to gain a large audience and convince many people of the programs he addresses.
ReplyDeleteBeing the leader of the free world, America certainly has a unparralled significance compared to the leaders of other countries. I also feel that internationally president Obama has been one of the more internationally accepted presidents, relative to the past US leaders, which gives him even more credibilty. Obama carries is given so much more credibility simply because of his position.
ReplyDeleteConsidering Obama is the president, he already has the credibility for the audience to believe and take interest in what he is saying. I like how you clearly defined the extrinsic and intrinsic ethos throughout the post. In the speech, when Obama provides specific examples of experts working on the space exploration and how it has been beneficial, his speech becomes even more credible.
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