Proposal Analysis

As a persuasive speech to get the American Jobs Act passed was effective. Obama used a lot of persuasive techniques that seemed to make his audience feel good about what he was saying. The two strongest elements of his speech were his rhetoric and his relationship with the audience, and these two elements had a give and take relationship. Obama obviously knows his audience well. He knows what they are concerned with and would address those concerns, he knows a lot about their political backgrounds and used that knowledge to be more persuasive.
One example of the combination of Obama's effective rhetoric and knowledge of the audience is his phrase "pass this jobs bill and...". Obama strategically put a positive statement after that lead repeatedly. With this strategy Obama was getting the information out effectively while also persuading his audience to have a favorable opinion of the bill. These statements were directed at congress basically saying "if you pass this bill really good things will happen and you'll get credit for them". He also avoided saying the word "if" so that it was not only persuasive but also more commanding. By phrasing the benefits of the bill in this way Obama made Congress feel good; he stroked their ego. What this phrase was also implying is that if Congress does not pass the bill bad things will happen and it will be their fault. This phrase that Obama used repeatedly really stuck with me as the most persuasive part of his speech.