An American Story: The Speeches of Barack Obama: A Primer

402 Pages·2008·3.79 MB·English

by  David Olive

AMERICAN
AN STORY

AMERICAN
AN STORY
THE SPEECHES OF BARACK OBAMA
A Primer by DAVID OLIVE
ECW Press
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Olive,David,1957–
AnAmericanstory:thespeechesofBarackObama:aprimer/DavidOlive.
Includestextof21speechesbyBarackObama.
isbn978-1-55022-864-9
1.Obama,Barack. 2.Speeches,addresses,etc.,American. 3.Obama,
Barack—Oratory. 4.UnitedStates—Politicsandgovernment—2001-.
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For Allison Nowlan

“Through the night with a light from above.”
–IrvingBerlin,“GodBlessAmerica”
“We look forward to a world founded upon four essential
human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression —
everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in
his own way — everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want — which, translated into
world terms, means economic understandings which will
secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its
inhabitants — everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear — which, translated into
world terms, means a worldwide reduction of armaments
to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no
nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical
aggression against any neighbor — anywhere in the
world.”
–FranklinDelanoRoosevelt,
“TheFourFreedoms,”addresstotheU.S.Congress,January6,1941

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xv
The Politics of Hope and Reality
1
Barack Obama on the Major Issues
41
Michelle Obama: The Achiever
65
A note on Barack Obama’s Oratorical Style and its
Impact
87
SPEECHES
iraq war
Obama’s prescient warning about an Iraq invasion 91
national unity
Obama denounces false divisions among
Americans 97
prosperity and fairness
Obama calls for a middle-class revival 107
education reform
America can’t afford to fall behind in the 21st-century
economy 117