As seen in the speeches of renowned politicians like Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, they are skilled at identifying symbolically with voters and in such a way, joins their interests with those of the voters. This type of politicians, in a manner, base their principles on the morals and ideologies of the voters, which makes identification the main ingredient used to give way to a rhetorical move, as seen in the speech of Barack Obama. As Crosby (2015) stated, Obama’s purpose in using identification was to “place himself and America in the same object position” (p,317). In this rhetorical move, Obama implied his listeners to understand America by giving reference to concrete experiences of the people, thereby making use of the concept of identification to make listeners understand his given case.
In the same way, the political speech of Mitt Romney also emphasized the use of identification to symbolically identify the politician (A) and the voters (B). In Romney’s speech in December 6, 2007 he identified his case as one that is directly united with the case of the broader audience, who questions Mormons and the real character of Romney (Medhurst, 2009, p.195). He centered his speech on the five basic issues that each American would have to face during those days, specifically when making civic decisions. By using the concept of identification, Romney was able to connect and unify the two scenarios. However, as Crosby (2015) stated, “If Obama’s understanding of America flows from his understanding of himself, Romney’s understanding of himself flows from his understanding of America” (p.317). For Romney, was is more stable is the idea of America, such that he promotes piety based on obedience and not of individual involvement as that of Obama.
In both cases, the concept of identification allowed Romney and Obama to join their interests with those of the voters. The difference, however, is that Romney’s speech focused more on the beliefs of the American people, while Obama’s speech focused more on what the American people experiences, both of which joins the interests of the speaker and audience. Through identification, the speaker is able to express the joining of interests and thus, effectively capture the attention of the audience, just by uniting with their interests.
Works Cited:
Crosby, Richard Benjamin. “Toward a Practical, Civic Piety; Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, and the Race for National Priest.” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 18.2 (2015): 301-330.
Medhurst, Martin J. “Mitt Romney, “Faith in America,” and the Dance of Religion and Politics in American Culture.” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 12.2 (2009): 195-222.
