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Rhetorical Analysis of President Obamas Drone

Policy Speech
by
Ryan Donovan
Barack Obama is one of the most gifted public speakers that our generation has ever seen,
and this couldnt be more evident than when he was delivering his address on the war in the
Middle East. In front of a capacity crowd of constituents and civilians, Obama delivered an
emotional, informative, patriotic, and uplifting speech on the current state of our deployment in
Afghanistan and the moral issues of using unmanned aircraft to carry out military operations.
With a lot of controversy surrounding the topic of his speech, Obama needed to pull out all the
stops to sway the crowd in his favor. Barack Obama masterfully uses the rhetorical strategies of
Ethos, Pathos, and Logos to help persuade the audience that his actions, specifically those
pertaining to using drone technology to carry out attacks, in said war are just.
Obamas audience is a rather large one, as this speech was intended to be viewed by the
entire American public. This speech was particularly important because at the time, 58% of
Americans approved of the use of drone strikes (only a slight majority), 54% of America
disapproved of him as president, and 49% of Americans believed sending troops into
Afghanistan was a mistake. In other words, Barack Obama needed to address one of the most
polarized audiences and cater to both of their wants. He admits that he did further American
involvement in the conflict, After I took office, we stepped up the war on al Qaeda but also

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shows that his efforts were for the greater good of the country we ended the war in Iraq, and
brought nearly 150,000 troops. He also realizes that the general public usually doesnt want to
hear about how much money certain things cost. If he had gone out and explained how the use of
drones is actually incredibly cost effective, there would be a disconnect among the listeners.
Now if he had been giving this speech to a group of legislators or other political figures, that
argument would be front in center in his speech. Catering to the two sides of his audience proved
to be incredibly helpful in his attempt towards swaying the audience in favor of his overall
message. By willing to admit his faults and shortcoming, he gives his argument legitimacy and
credibility.
In terms of exigence, this speech is absolutely dripping with it. One of the most common
issues going into the 2008 election was how the new president would handle the situation in the
Middle East. Barack Obama promised that hed get the troops out of the Middle East as soon as
he possibly could. Seven years later there has been a fair amount of troop withdrawal, but
nowhere near to the extent that was once promised. The American public is growing restless, and
are demanding action. President Obama needs to address these urgent concerns, and claims that
the more we use the drones, the less of a need for soldiers. In other words, by continuing the
usage of drones in the Middle East, he would be able to further back up his promise of reuniting
military families. Turning an urgent problem into a way to further back up your point is
masterful use of rhetoric.
After covering the basics of what his intent for the future of drone strikes, Obama then
goes to answer the critics of his policies. It is a hard fact that U.S. strikes have resulted in
civilian casualties, a risk that exists in every war. The biggest criticism that has been brought up
when talking about the morality of using drones to fight our wars is that there is always a chance

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of causing civilian casualties. Obama knows this, but offers a counterpoint. To do nothing in the
face of terrorist networks would invite far more civilian casualties not just in our cities at home
and our facilities abroad, but also in the very places like Sanaa and Kabul and Mogadishu where
terrorists seek a foothold. In other words, by using this technology we may cause civilian
casualties but by not doing everything in our power to stop terrorism from getting a foothold in
the Middle East then the innocent civilian death toll would be much higher. This is both an
instance of logos and ethos. Its verifying the ethics of using drone strikes, while backing it up
with logic.
The area in which Obama really sells us on his point however, is with his usage of
Pathos. Obama appeals to the emotion of his audience in order to make sure that his point comes
across as well as he can. For the families of those lost, no words or legal construct can justify
their loss. For me, and those in my chain of command, those deaths will haunts us as long as we
live, just as we are haunted by the civilian casualties that have occurred throughout conventional
fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. This creates a chilling image in which our leader, a man who
was elected to be composed under pressure no matter the circumstance, being haunted by the
decisions that he has needed to make for the betterment of his country. If a man who is supposed
to be the picture of composure is personally disturbed by the actions of the military, then it is no
wonder that it invokes such a reaction from the crowd. Throughout the entire speech he discusses
how no matter how much he tries to justify the actions that have led to the point that they are at,
it is still a shame that lives are lost. Its a bleak situation and no amount of justification or
government legislation is really going to change that.

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In conclusion, Barack Obama must have had a great English 101 teacher in college
because he appeals to the interests of his audience, he covers ethos, pathos and logos, and has
plenty of examples of rhetorical terms sprinkled throughout his speech. By using all of these
methods, he justifies the usage of drones to carry out military operations by showing the large
upside of civilians that would be saved. By appealing to ethics, logic, and emotion Obama puts
together a complete speech which not only captivated his audience, but also got his message
across so well that there was nearly a double in drone research funding from both the United
States Navy, and United States Air Force.
Works Cited:
Dilanian, Ken. "Americans Approve of Drone Strikes on Terrorists, Poll Finds." PBS. PBS,
n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2015.

"War on Terrorism." Gallup.com. Gallup, n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2015.

Obama, Barack H. "Obamas Speech on Drone Policy." The New York Times. The New York
Times, 23 May 2014. Web. 06 Nov. 2015.