The Advertising
Rhetoric of Barack
Obama and Mitt
Romney
Frank E. Parcells, Ph. D., Professor
Department of Communication
Austin Peay State University
2012 Tennessee Communication
Association Convention
Political Ads in 2012
Presidential Campaign
Barack Obama
• I will rhetorically examine two
specific television political ads from
the 2012 Presidential race: one for
the Democratic Obama Campaign
and one for the Republication
Romney Campaign.
• I have selected two television ads
from YouTube.com for use in this
TCA Convention program.
Mitt Romney
• Should you desire to download a
copy of this PowerPoint
presentation, you can do so at my
website, http://DrParcells.org/, and
click on menu bar selecting
“PowerPoint Presentations.”
Rhetoric Defined
• Quintilian say’s rhetoric is “the good man
speaking well.”
• Aristotle believes that rhetoric is “finding the
available means of persuasion.”
• Plato defines rhetoric as “a philosophy” and not
an art, an unnecessary tool.
• Isocrates indicates that rhetoric is “the power of
persuading.”
• Cicero claims rhetoric is “speaking in a way
adapted to persuade.”
• Thus, regardless of whether rhetoric is ethical
persuasion or not rhetoric is certainly a means
of persuasion.
Fact Checking Bill Clinton’s 2012 DNC Speech
Former President Bill Clinton
Speaking at the 2012 DNC
I’ve used FactCheck.org as a first
step for checking out Bill Clinton’s
2012 DNC speech accuracy,
reliability and trustworthiness to
help assess and establish Clinton’s
ethos of source credibility as a
Democratic spokesperson for the
Obama Presidential Campaign.
FactCheck.org (2012) offers this about Clinton’s 2012 DNC speech:
Republicans will find plenty of Clinton’s scorching opinions
objectionable. But with few exceptions, we found his stats checked out.
The worst we could fault him for was a suggestion that President
Obama’s Affordable Care Act was responsible for bringing down the rate
of increase in health care spending, when the fact is that the law’s main
provisions have yet to take effect.
Fact Checking Bill Clinton’s 2012 DNC Speech and
Establishing His Credibility as a Spokesperson
Further FactCheck.org and many other fact checking websites in
addition to print and electronic news industry sources which have
identified Bill Clinton’s 2012 DNC speech as the only speech
given at either the RNC or DNC this year which did not contain
overwhelming factually inaccurate information (including the
distortion of statistical facts).
•Clinton offered factual information (logos) with some story telling
examples (mythos) and emotional appeals (pathos) all of which
Aristotle believed lead to a credible source (ethos).
•Further, Clinton clearly has charisma and charm working for him
during his speeches, but does this transfer to a political TV ad
where he becomes the narrator of a “Commander and Chief”
endorsement of the President based on Obama’s military
leadership role in capturing and killing Osama Bin Laden?
Obama’s 2012 Political Ad
• Obama’s Political
TV Ad: “One
Chance”
• Content: Obama
as U. S. Commander
and Chief
establishing his
military leadership
for capturing and
killing Osama Bin
Laden.
• Spokesperson:
Former President Bill
Clinton
One Chance to Get It Right Obama Ad
• Clinton starts out his ad narrative in the
One Chance commercial saying, “That’s
one thing that George Bush said that was
right: the President is the decider and
chief. Nobody can make that decision
for you.”
Clinton (above) from the
One Chance political ad and
a shot of President Obama
(below) from the same ad.
• He continues, “Look. He knew what
would happen. Suppose the Navy Seals
had gone in there and it hadn’t been Bin
Laden. Suppose they’d been captured or
killed. The downside would have been
horrible for him.”
• “But he reasoned, ‘I cannot in good
conscience do nothing.’ He took the
harder and the more honorable path.”
One Chance to Get It Right Obama Ad
Let’s watch the entire political ad from YouTube.com.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=BD75KOoNR9k&NR=1
One Chance Political Ad
• Says Clinton, telling the story
of Obama decision making
to kill Osama bin Laden on
Pakistani soil, “He had to
decide!”
• Notice the dark silhouette of
President Obama in the
White House window
suggesting he was tasking
over his decision to
capturing or kill Osama bin
Laden.
• What an emotional appeal
(Aristotle’s pathetic proof)?
One Chance Political Ad
• Says Clinton, “That’s
what you do. You hire
the President to make
the calls when no one
else can do it.”
• Then the screen fades
to black and the 2012
Obama campaign
logo fills the viewing TV
sets.
One Chance Political Ad
•
At first view the One Chance political ad seems to high light the the
courage of President Obama as the Commander and Chief who made the
decision to capture or kill Osama bin Laden.
•
Considering former President Bill Clinton is narrating the commercial, stop
and think for a moment about his failed attempt as president to kill the
same terrorist, Osama bin Laden.
The Rhetoric of the One
Chance Political Ad
NewsBusters.org probably said it best in a report by Noel Sheppard
(May 3, 2012) in his column on Brian Williams coverage of the bin
Laden killing, noting:
NBC's special presentation of Rock Center on the first
anniversary of Osama bin Laden's assassination wasn't just a
victory lap for Barack Obama.
It was also a chance for host Brian Williams to praise Bill
Clinton for going after the former al Qaeda leader without
mentioning all the times his administration passed on chances
to get him.
Even with all of the rhetorical credibility former President Bill Clinton
has reestablished himself during the 2012 Presidential Election, he
failed to complete the very same task to kill Osama bin Laden that
he complements President Obama for achieving. Why was Clinton
selected as Obama’s spokesperson for this particular political TV
ad? Could it be his 2012 credibility?
Other Ethos in the One
Chance Political Ad
• Keep in mind, however,
that credibility might
have been an issue with
former President Bill
Clinton, but it was not an
issue with others.
• By taking an excerpt from
CNN, the One Chance
political ad actually
carried what might well
be considered a Wolf
Blitzer endorsement of
the President’s credibility.
• With the addition of
some screens showing
Romney’s challenges
of Obama’s military
decision to go inside
Pakistani soil to capture
or kill bin Laden, there is
clearly another
credibility issue which
asks about Romney’s
own ethos when he
challenges Obama’s
actions.
Repetition Builds Reputation in
One Chance Ad
The videotape of CNN news
anchor Wolf Blitzer’s
questioning Romney’s
statement that “It’s not
worth moving heaven and
earth spending billions of
dollars catching one person
(referring to bin Laden).”
Blitzer called into question
this statement saying “It’s
(referring to Romney’s
statement above)
generated a little
controversy….”
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer
Ethos in One Chance Ad
• Andrew Dulgan (2010) from
Six Minutes Speaking and
Presentation Skills defines
ethos as containing four
major elements:
 Trustworthiness – Are you a
good person whom the
audience thinks will tell the
truth?
 Similarity – Does your audience
identify with you?
 Authority – Do you have formal
or informal authority relative to
your audience?
 Reputation – How much
expertise does your audience
think you have on the topic or
in the field?
Mitt Romney’s Political
Ad: Dear Daughter
Mitt Romney’s Political
Ad: Dear Daughter
• Let’s look at Romney’s political ad, Dear Daughter, at
YouTube.com now.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkvN7GCcTVk
Mitt Romney’s Political
Ad: Dear Daughter
•
Mitt Romney’s Dear Daughter 2012 political ad starts with a video of a
mother and daughter.
•
The female voice of the narrator says, “Dear daughter. Welcome to
America. Your share of Obama’s debt is over $50,000.00 and it grows
everyday. Obama’s policies are making it harder on women.”
Mitt Romney’s Political Ad: Dear Daughter
• The announcer
says, “The poverty
rate for women is
the highest in 17
years.”
• “More women are
unemployed under
President Obama.”
• “More than 5 and ½
million women
can’t find work.”
Emotional appeals (Aritstotle’s pathos) are
clearly at work here with the video content
of a baby and mother repeated throughout
this political ad.
Mitt Romney’s Political
Ad: Dear Daughter
Romney’s
narrator ends her
part of the
commercial,
saying, “That’s
what Obama’s
policies have
done for women.
Welcome
daughter!”
Mitt Romney’s Political
Ad: Dear Daughter
• Romney’s political ad concludes with the scene
above and Romney saying, “I’m Mitt Romney and I
approve this message.”
Rhetorical Analysis of Mitt Romney’s
Dear Daughter Political Ad
• Aristotle’s mythos (narrative
story telling) and pathos
(emotional appeals)
combined with limited
statistics (logos) are the
primary ingredients of the
Dear Daughter 2012
Presidential Campaign Ad.
• Together they ad up to
some level of credibility
(Aristotle’s ethos) for
Romney emphasizing what’s
not been accomplished by
Obama.
• Clearly Romney is
aiming at all women
who have emotional
ties to the latest and
future generations with
this Dear Daughter TV
commercial.
• What’s really important
with this ad is a what’s
left out of this TV
commercial and not
what it contains.
Rhetorical Analysis of Mitt Romney’s
Dear Daughter Political Ad
• What’s left out of this political ad?
• The most controversial women’s issues of this campaign
and American society are not addressed in this TV ad.
• These issues are simply bypassed in favor of those
Romney favors for women.
• Where’s women’s rights
mentioned?
• Where’s “free choice”
on abortion mentioned?
• Where’s equal pay for
equal work by women
mentioned?
• Where’s women’s
sexual orientation
mentioned?
• Where’s the right of
lesbian couples to
marry mentioned?
What’s Not in the Dear
Daughter ad?
• The most important persuasive device in this commercial is
what is not addressed in Romney’s Dear Daughter political ad.
• The American Advertising Federation (2011) in its professional
Principles and Practices for Advertising Ethics considers the
omission of information in ads as much an act of dishonesty as
outright fabrication or distortion of the facts.
What’s Not in the Dear
Daughter ad?
• Thus, the most
significant issue of
this political
advertisement is
one of dishonesty
or omission of
relevant facts.
• It’s a question of
ethics and
credibility (ethos) is
raised by this TV
ad.
References
American Advertising Federation & Institute for
Advertising Ethics. (2011). AAF/IAE Principles and
Practices for Advertising Ethics (Snyder, W., Ed.).
Retrieved October 3, 2012 from http://www.aaf.org/
images/public/aaf_content/images/ad%20ethics/
IAE_Principles_Practices.pdf.
Dlugan, A. (Feb 7, 2010). 15 tactics to establish ethos:
examples of persuasive speaking from Six Minutes
Speaking and Presentation Skills. Retrieved October 3,
2012 from http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/ethosexamples-speaking/.
References
Obama Campaign. (April 27, 2012). One chance.
Video produced by the Democratic National
Committee for the Obama Presidential Campaign.
Retrieved on October 2, 2012 from http://
www.youtube.com/watch?
feature=endscreen&v=BD75KOoNR9k&NR=1.
Sheppard, N. (May 3, 2012). Brian Williams praises Bill
Clinton for trying to kill Bin Laden, ignores all the
missed opportunities in Newsbusters.org. Retrieved
October 3, 2012 from http://newsbusters.org/ blogs/
noel-sheppard/2012/05/03/brian-williams-praises-billclinton-trying-kill-bin-laden-ignores-all#ixzz28BE0RQh2.
References
Robertson, L., Kiely, E., Jackson, B., & Farley, R. (Sept. 6,
2012). Our Clinton nightmare from FactCheck.org.
Retrieved on October 2, 2012 from http://
www.factcheck.org/2012/09/our-clinton-nightmare/.
Romney Campaign. (Sept 17, 2012). Dear Daughter.
Video produced by the Republican National
Committee for the Romney Presidential Campaign.
Retrieved on October 2, 2012 from http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkvN7GCcTVk1.
Copies of this PowerPoint
Presentation
• Simply go to the following website: DrParcells.org.
• Click on the menu bar link “PowerPoint
Presentations.”
• Download the “2012 TCA Program” PowerPoint
presentation.
• Any questions or comments contact me at
ParcellsF@APSU.edu.