We need a change !

     Following the news events of the last few days, I decided to deal with a sensitive subject, the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

All Americans favourable to the right to bear arms are hiding behind this amendment. The problem comes, however, when we see the year when the amendment was adopted. We are talking about 1791. Europe is facing the French Revolution, Australia has recently gained its independence from the United Kingdom and the United States are a young nation which has to deal with many internal and external problems. 

If we consider the year of adoption of this amendment is comprehensible the needs of American citizens to defend themselves, but since then things have changed. After nearly 222 years the law requires an urgent action if we want to avoid incidents such as the massacre of Connecticut.

President Obama has taken a serious engagement in this sense, but it will be a hard battle against the powerful lobbies pro weapons. We just have to wait and see what happens. We are hopeful of a positive result.

Sources: http://www.tg1.rai.it/dl/tg1/2010/articoli/ContentItem-18cc0990-561b-4772-8f32-a89852c237a8.html?refresh_ce

                  http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_Am2.html

                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aIXL9-0G6Y

Obama's Presidential announcement : The begin of the story.

 

On the February 10^th 2007 in Chicago, Barack Obama announced officially his candidacy for President of United States.

First through this speech, he clearly explained the reasons why he decided to become the next 44^th American President. In fact it’s possible to summarize his Presidential announcement in few words: Believe in America-Peace-Hope-Poverty-Health-opportunity and Change. It’s obvious that when he pronounced this address, “Change” was his favorite slogan, instead of “Yes we can”.

Announcing his candidacy, Barack Obama tried to present his story, how he arrived in Chicago, what kind education he learnt there, but he also expressed his view about America. The challenge they must overcame for bringing change in America. Despite the fact he didn’t stay a long time in Washington, he said:” I know I haven’t spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington, but I have been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change”.

On the other hand, we can consider like important the choice of Springfield. That is the place where Lincoln started his campaign in 1858 and also the place where North, South, East and West came together. Knowing the challenges he had to face, he particularly underlined a fact that “Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what’s needed to be done. Today we are called once more- and it is time for our generation to answer that call”. Facing all of those challenges, afterward he asked to American citizens to support his campaign. For the future battles arguing: “So let us begin this hard work together. Let us transform this nation...Let’s be the generation that ends poverty in America”.

Finally this Presidential announcement has been the first time for the future President to express his view about the war in Iraq. He clearly argued his opposition to this mistake and promised to bring home the American troops.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2007/02/obamas_presidential_announceme.html

Critical Discourse Analysis. Kennedy's speech "Ich bin ein Berliner"

John F. Kennedy delivered this speech during his state visit to West Berlin in 1963; the ‘Berlin Wall’ was just built. In this fraught political situation, Kennedy talked about freedom and justice, contrasting the ‘free world’ to the ‘communist world’.

He addressed the Berliners directly but he obliquely referred also to ‘the world of freedom’. However, he tried to captivate the Berliners repeating several times the famous sentence: "Ich bin ein Berliner", I am a Berliner. He decided to pronounce these words in German in order to pose himself at the same level of each Berliner. Moreover, he said that he was proud to say “I am a Berliner”. This escamotage brought him the confidence of Berliners: ordinary people were placed at the same level of the President of the USA. In fact, the audience expressed its sentiment of togetherness applauding after every sentence said in German. This rhetorical device is called ‘claptraps’ and it is a strategy to catch applause. Besides the use of German, another Kennedy’s claptrap was when he referred to the sad situation of Berlin, especially after the sentence “Let they came to Berlin”. He utilized this expression in the comparison between the world of freedom and the communist world in order to discredit those who thought that the communism could be a concrete alternative. The first part of the speech is focused on this division, expressed also in the dichotomy between on the one hand ‘freedom and democracy’ and on the other ‘the wall’. Kennedy wanted to point out that it was impossible to work with the communist because the communist system was dictatorial and it did not bring prosperity and wealth. Berlin was the most palpable example of the difference between these two worlds because both of them coexisted in the same city.

In the second part of his speech, Kennedy shifted the attention from Berlin to the whole world. However, the Berliners still had a role: they lived in a ‘defended island of freedom’ but they had to concur to the exportation of freedom in East Berlin, East Germany and ‘everywhere in the world, for all mankind’. In this second part Kennedy’s will in the join of the two Berlin and the two Germany filtered out, because ‘freedom is indivisible and when one man is in slave, all of us aren’t free’. In this sentence we can find both the contraposition between the two worlds and the desire to defeat the despotic one in order to export freedom and democracy everywhere. Then, Kennedy talked about the future and the hope to live in a world of freedom, justice and peace. 

Kennedy’s speech is organized in three sections: in the first one he addressed the Berliners and he reported the gloomy political, social and economical situation of Berlin. In the second one, the contraposition between the two worlds is no more referred only to the local situation of Berlin but to the international situation: in fact, Kennedy talked about Europe and the whole world. His desire to destroy the communism is quite clear. This wish is expressed also in the third part, when Kennedy talked about the future and the desire to live in a free world. He took his responsibility to bring freedom but he also encouraged the Berliners and “the world of freedom” in doing so. He expressed also his personal conviction that ‘that day will come’. The self-confidence expressed by the President brought him prolonged applauses. The speech ends as it started: “…as a free man, I take pride in the words Ich bin ein Berliner”. The roundness of Kennedy’s speech gives a sense of completeness and links the three parts of the speech together.

Lexical choice: the words freedom, justice, peace are repeated several times. This reveals us that the speech is focused on these topics. These words are used to describe the world embodied in Kennedy, while the adjective evil is used to describe the communist system. Communist had had to build up a wall in order to prevent that people leave them, while Americans didn’t. Here Kennedy used the first person plural pronoun, “I” plus a group, in order to stress that the lifestyle and the values that they offer are better than the ones posed by the communists, embodied in the Wall.

Kennedy used also the first person singular pronoun “I” in order to show a clear sense of personal involvement. In fact, at the very beginning of the speech he repeated three times that he is proud ‘to come here….to visit the Federal Republic… come again if he (the Chancellor) ever needs it’ . This is also an high impact ‘list-of-three’, which is a rhetorical device used in political speeches in order to elicit approval. The three-part list can have different words with a similar general meaning, for example: ‘… democracy and freedom and progress’ . This list-of-three implies that democracy, instead of communism, is the condition to be free and wealthy.

The repetition of ‘I am a Berliner’ had a great impact on the audience and this statement played an important role in the fusion between the speaker and the audience.

The repetition of the sentence ‘let they come to Berlin’ is another three-part-list and it gives a sense of unity and completeness at the first part of the speech that could be read as a critic to the communism. This sentence is said also in German.

Another three-part-list used by Kennedy is when he praised the quality of the citizens of West Berlin: ‘… the force and the hope and the determination of the city of West Berlin’. This was also a ‘claptrap’: when Kennedy wanted huge applauses he had only to praise the qualities of West Berliners. Another one is when Kennedy expressed his desire for the reunification of Berlin accusing the communist system to ‘…separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters…’ . This is also a three-part-list. Implication: the communist system is wicked because does not allow people who wants to stay together to join each other.

The reunification of Germany in Europe is another important issue of the speech and when Kennedy talked about it, he repeated several times the word free. The main line of the speech is that the communists do not allow people to be free, while freedom is one of Americans’ values: ‘the right to be free, to live in peace and justice’.   

Susanna Gallini. 

"The best is yet to come"

   The speech given by the newly elected President Obama on November 7, 2012 is, in my opinion, the most intense of his political career.

Right from the start of the speech, President Obama thanked all those who participated in the elections, and greets the challenger, Mitt Romney.

“I want to thank every American who participated in this election. Whether you voted for the very first time or waited in line for a very long time -- by the way, we have to fix that.  Whether you pounded the pavement or picked up the phone -- whether you held an Obama sign or a Romney sign, you made your voice heard, and you made a difference.

I just spoke with Governor Romney, and I congratulated him and Paul Ryan on a hard-fought campaign. We may have battled fiercely, but it’s only because we love this country deeply, and we care so strongly about its future.  From George to Lenore to their son Mitt, the Romney family has chosen to give back to America through public service, and that is a legacy that we honour and applaud tonight.”

Obama also dedicated a part of his very touching speech to his family, tearing many cheers from the crowd.

“And I wouldn’t be the man I am today without the woman who agreed to marry me 20 years ago.  Let me say this publicly -- Michelle, I have never loved you more.  I have never been prouder to watch the rest of America fall in love with you, too, as our nation’s First Lady. Sasha and Malia,  before our very eyes, you're growing up to become two strong, smart, beautiful young women, just like your mom.  And I’m so proud of you guys.  But I will say that for now, one dog is probably enough”

The President then focuses on the problems he will face in his forthcoming mandate asking the full cooperation of the Republican Party.

“In the weeks ahead, I also look forward to sitting down with Governor Romney to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward.”

“Our economy is recovering.  A decade of war is ending.  A long campaign is now over. And whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you.  I have learned from you.  And you've made me a better President.  With your stories and your struggles, I return to the White House more determined and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do, and the future that lies ahead.

Tonight, you voted for action, not politics as usual.  You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours.  And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together:  reducing our deficit;  reforming our tax code; fixing our immigration system; freeing ourselves from foreign oil.  We've got more work to do.”

President Obama concludes his speech by praising the diversity that has always characterized the United States of America.

“America, I believe we can build on the progress we’ve made, and continue to fight for new jobs, and new opportunity, and new security for the middle class.  I believe we can keep the promise of our founding -- the idea that if you’re willing to work hard, it doesn’t matter who you are, or where you come from, or what you look like, or where you love -- it doesn’t matter whether you're black or white, or Hispanic or Asian, or Native American, or young or old, or rich or poor, abled, disabled, gay or straight -- you can make it here in America if you’re willing to try.”

Sources:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamasecondpresidentialvictoryspeech.htm

The Obama advices about African’s challenges

 

This is a speech pronounced to the Ghanaian parliament in 2009 by Barack Obama.

The context: As President, it was his first trip in a sub Saharan African’s country. The choice of Ghana was justifying by the fact, Ghana is considered like an African democratic and development model. Through this speech he wanted to underline his view and especially the way that Africa must take to the development. Although this speech has been pronounced in Ghana, but really his target was  to speak to all Africa and give  some advices. Obviously, he focused his speech on some important words like: Africa – Democracy- Opportunity – Health and the peaceful Conflict resolution 

First, he considers:”Africa as a fundamental part of our interconnected world”, but African people must work hard to improve their situation and resolve all African crisis. Secondly, he recognized the fact,” Ghanaian people worked hardly to put his democracy on a firmer footing”. In the same way, he argued:” Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions”. For moving forward, Africa should apply good Governance because development depends on it and it’s a good way to struggle against corruption to create opportunity for all. He said: “No country is going to create Health if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves”.

 Finally, in spite of the fact, there are only conflicts in few countries, he argued that:” African’s diversity should be a source of strength, not a cause of division”and“any faith or culture shouldn't condone the violence against women and child”

 http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-ghanaian-parliament

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkNpUEWIhd4

The great silent majority

Richard Nixon in his address to the nation delivered on the 3 of November 1969 in order to defend its policy in Vietnam.

Lexical choice

The language used is concentrated in a few clear words, which recall the topic of the speech: the search for a solution to the Vietnam War.

Then we find: Vietnam, Peace, War, Withdrawal, Forces, People, …

Structure of Nixon’s Speech

Approximately the speech can be characterized by four part: in the first, Nixon tries to imagine the questions that the American people has in his mind; for example: “How and why did America get involved in Vietnam in the first place?”

In the second part he blames the failure of the Paris Conference to communist countries, and in particular the Ho Chi Minh’s refusal of any compromise.

Then he describes why precipitate withdrawal would be a disaster of immense magnitude.

Finally, he asks the support of the silent majority of Americans to achieve the objective “of a just and lasting peace”.

Characterizing words and phrases

-          precipitate withdrawal as disaster;

-          defeat in our nation’s history;

-          our proposals;

-          unprecedented step;

-          obstacle in negotiating;

Fabrizio Creston

The importance of being...Vice President !

   As we all know, the vice presidents have always occupy a marginal role in American political life.

Most of the time they passed almost without leaving a trace in the administrations of their Presidents. But now things have changed and Joe Biden has opened a new era in American politics.

As never before, in these elections the role of vice president was so important. An example of this was the way Joe Biden has been able to remedy the bad impression made ​​by Obama in the first televised debate with the republican challenger Mitt Romney. Joe Biden was able to defeat the young republican Paul Ryan in the televised debate that took place a few days after the meeting between Obama and Romney.

Will the Vice Presidents have a more prominent role in government or Joe Biden will be the only example of this political phenomenon?

Paun Romica

---

Illustration from: 

http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/4d16e265-7eb6-456a-b427-9a521abe26d9.html

Profession First Lady, the other side of the President

“The most powerful unelected and unpaid office to support the President from outside the political battle”. This is how Anita Bevacqua McBride, chief of Laura Bush’s staff from 2005 to 2009, interviewee by the press agency Adnkronos, describes the “hard work” of the First Lady. In fact, wives have an increasing importance in the convention because they have the duty to introduce the human side of the candidate. Their intervention has a great impact on the electorate. For example, Laura Bush’s speech at the 2004 convention represented a turning point in the campaign because she stressed the difficulties and the perturbations of being a president during a war in contrast to whom who thought that Bush desired the war. Some commentators think that Laura’s speech was decisive in the Bush re-election.

In the USA there are opinion pulls regarding the popularity of the wives of the candidate. In the last campaign, Ann Romney got 37% of votes in favour, while Michelle Obama obtained 43% of favourable votes. The two wives are extremely different: Ann embodies the typical republican values of family and patriotism, instead Michelle represent the woman who was able to conciliate family and career.

In 2010, Michelle launched Let’s Move, a campaign to bring together community leaders, teachers, doctors, nurses, moms and dads in a nationwide effort to tackle the challenge of childhood obesity. In 2011, Mrs. Obama and Dr. Jill Biden together launched Joining Forces, a nationwide initiative that mobilizes all sectors of society to give support to military families’. Joining Forces was fundamental to answering the President’s challenge to hire or train 100,000 unemployed veterans and military spouses by 2013. Many others were the activities that Michelle carried out and this business surely strengthened the positive image of President Obama.

First Ladies act behind the scene and often influence President’s policy. I like Michelle Obama and I like also the idea that the USA is ruled by the Obama’s.

Susanna Gallini

Republican Party:The storm of changing maybe is arriving.

“Times are changing. Are we going to accept the changing face to America and change with it?” That is the question wondered by Meaghan Mc Cain. This thinking summarizes the fear of Republican Party to accept or deny the new American’s realty.

According many political analysts, the American election didn’t re-elect only for a second term Barack Obama, but the American citizens have decided to continue on the way. His victory could be considered like an irreversible triumph of a new America, in which all of the American citizens are including without discrimination. Barack Obama was able to talk towards all of communities and obtained from them a good vote. In fact, in the new American society, black, Hispanic, homosexual, heterosexual, religious are becoming more important and they have to be understand, neither of a candidate could  forget them and especially they  have the same rights. In that society it’s important to defend all of their right, not only the right of the American older tradition. This advice will be suitable for Republican Party. They have to redefine their policy towards all of American citizens.

During the last campaign, Mitt Romney didn’t any effort towards some communities such as Black community he didn’t try anything, about Hispanic he was hurting them by talking far right position on immigration during the Republican primary. Steve Schmidt, a Republican strategist argued that: “This is, this will have to be, the last time that the Republican Party tries to win this way “. His affirmation explains clearly that part of the Republican is trying to move forward and accept the changing in American society. The Republican Party should to move forwards on many topics such as:

Homosexuality;

-          Immigration;

-          Minorities right and welfare (including the women);

 
     However, regarding that, Meghan Cain one of the Republican partisan journalists has argued that she could leave Republican Party and become an independent. Clearly if the Republican Party isn’t moving forward, adapting to the new American society, it isn’t going to survive.

Sources:http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/16/meghan-mccain-on-why-the-republican-party-needs-to-wake-up.html