President Barack Obama Speaks on Behalf of the Tragedy at Sandy Hook.

            One of the most powerful and moving speeches I have ever witnessed was President Barack Obama’s speech following the tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Being from the town that borders Newtown, the massacre at Sandy Hook really hit home for me. The nation needed to come together in this time of need. I believe President Barack Obama’s speech and how it was constructed was one of the main reasons why it did just that.

            Obama’s speech was not only watched by the entire nation, but spoken in front of an auditorium full of heartbroken families and a broken community. This speech had a broad audience. He needed to affectively communicate with the mourning victim’s families, the grieving Newtown community, and the stunned people across the nation that were tuning in.

            Obama gained the audience’s attention and trust with an emotion appeal. He first directly thanks the governor and community for having him there, and offers the victim's families and community his condolences. He opens with a passage from scripture, and calls the victims “beautiful children” and “good and decent people that could be any town in America”. He offers his prayers and knows his “mere words can not compare to their sorrow”. He acknowledges that nothing he can say will make this situation better. But he tells the community that “they are not alone, and the land has wept with you”. Obama showed his “softer” or more “fatherly” side by tearing up during the speech. Yet, he was direct and firm that actions needed to be taken for tragedies like this to be prevented.  He ends with another passage from scripture “let the children come to me God says”. Then directly and slowly acknowledges each and every victim by their first name.

            The following two paragraphs are from Obama’s speech. I believe here Obama was direct, yet appealing to his targeted audience, that change is necessary.

            "These tragedies must end, and to end them, we must change. We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and it is true. No single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society. But that can't be an excuse for inaction. Surely we can do better than this."

"In the coming weeks, I'll use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens, from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators in an effort to prevent more tragedies like this, because what choice do we have?"

Although it stemmed from such a horrific event, I feel privileged to have been able to witness a speech that will most definitely be marked down in history for being one of the greats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEELb4afbVA