"Future of America"

Obama's speech was just like every other speech that students hear from their teachers, principals, and other concerned authority figures about a million times right before school starts. Complete with the awe-inspiring zero-to-hero anecdotes, hip new lingo meant to help the speaker relate to the kids ("Hey everybody! Whazzup?!"), and the ever-impending threat of how we are "the future of this country" so try not to screw this one up. Stylistically speaking, Obama's speech used the typical techniques of every "good" speech given in the history of American politics. Repetition ("Maybe you could be, Maybe you could be, Maybe you could be,"; "I've talked about, I've talked about, I've talked about,"; "drop out of school and just drop into a good job,") to emphasize his points. Empathy ("I get it. I know what it's like.") to show the speaker's understanding of his audience and to establish a sense of compassion. A call to action ("I'm calling on each of you to set your own goals,") to cause a response from the audience and empower them by showing them that they "can make a difference". Though it was little more than the typical back-to-school speech, I guess I would rather hear it from Obama than from my mother.