Women and their role in the
upcoming campaign have become an important aspect to the candidates when seeking
votes. In the 2008 elections 10 million
more women voted than men, making their voting decisions more important than in
any election ever before. The issues
that have been the most important to women voters are those concerning health
concerns such as birth control and abortion rights, as well as issues
concerning supporting a family and feeding their children. The candidates of
the campaign have taken notice to the important, possibly deciding role that
women will play in the upcoming November elections, as “this campaign has been
marked by an unusual intensity of debate over women’s issues, particularly
reproductive rights (Riccardi).”
Obama is a huge fan of using the
media to attract and recruit the younger generation of voters. He uses accounts on Twitter and Tumblr to
have access to all those who are accessing social media sources at an almost
constant rate. Often, Obama uses these
accounts to update followers with campaign issues, such as the important subjects
concerning women and women issues. While
some advertisements have gained successful popularity among women voters, other
ads have caused uproar and backlash. The
ethos, pathos, and logos of each determine how the intended audience reacts to
the piece of advertisement.
In the picture shown below, Obama
gives the audience the impression of a strong and concerned man. Although his face is stern, it gives off the
fatherly expression which shows compassion and understanding, rather than that
of an all-knowing dictator who would tell a woman what she could or couldn’t do
with her body. By doing this, he is establishing an ethos that makes him
relatable to women, as well as to fathers who are concerned about their
daughter’s well-being. More ethos is
also created with this image and statement for those who know Obama has two
daughters of his own, as well as a wife.
In the statement, “Women are not an
interest group. They are mothers, and
daughters, and sisters, and wives. They
are half of this country and they are perfectly capable of making their own
choices about their health,” Obama begins with generalizing women together as a
whole. This strategy of pathos, by
banding women together, sends the message that all women are in this fight
against health care together. With the
next words “…are not an interest group,” he addresses the issue that all women
are not the same; not raised the same, educated the same, or have the same
access to medical care, so they should not all be grouped into one definitive
group. The breaking down of the
different generations and relations of women as individual human beings
solidifies his message that all women should be treated equally, but on
individual terms and bases. This creates
a strong sense of pathos for all ages of women who come from all different
types of backgrounds, which gives the sense of empowerment individually, as
well as a whole.
“They are half of this country and
are perfectly capable of making their own choices about their health” puts the
power and credibility into the hands of the women as voters. This is meant to make the women feel as if
they are now in control of their own health care and personal choices, and that
Obama is there to help. This is
effective because it sends the message that Obama believes that they do not
need instruction from him or his campaign, or anybody else when it comes to
their personal health choices.
This statement that was posted on
Obama’s Twitter account has a very clear and gender-specific audience – women. The effectiveness of posting this to Twitter
is an obvious attempt to attract the younger audience who will see it and share
it with others more so than if he would’ve stated it in a speech or discussed
it on a late-night talk show visit. How it was presented to the audience shows
that Obama and his campaign believe that younger voters will relate to this
style of advertising and find it more effective to address the issues
concerning them in a social-media centered fashion.
The ethos that is established in
this post is made believable because it comes from President Obama,
himself. Which many voters, and
tweeters, find to be an extremely credible course without much, if any,
question. Emotion and pathos play an important
role in the message of this Tweet because it is centered on women and the issue
that has become most important to many of them.
When Obama says that, “The decisions…they’re up to you,’ the image of
Uncle Sam pointing his finger in recruitment is hard to suppress. “You” is a
very powerful statement because it individualizes each and every reader, rather
than summarizing them as whole and saying “they’re up to women”. If “women”
were to replace “you” a less powerful message would have been sent to the
readers. The “you” individualizes each
reader, each woman, sending an empowering message that suggests, again, that
she is in control.
The picture shown below was
reportedly posted to the official Obama campaign Tumblr page.
Although the Obama campaign claims
to be highly supportive of women and their bodies, the posting of this
advertisement suggests otherwise. This
card is using mostly pathos to address the issues concerning women’s rights to
abortion and contraception in a very brief and “dumbed-down” way. Its target, young women voters between the
ages 18-25, are being encouraged to “vote with their body parts” rather than
with their own intelligence.
The image of the young girl to the
right gives the image of enthusiasm as she raises her hand in support to the
statement that is to the left of her.
This perceives the notion of a woman who really doesn’t have a clear
understanding of what she is voting for and saying “yes” to. The only thing that suggests she understands
what she is voting for is the fact her legs are closed and crossed as if
protecting her “lady parts.”
The logos behind this image and its
posting was meant to be humorous and
appealing to the younger audience that Obama is always trying to impress with a
relatable, friendly appearance. Because
it was on his Tumblr account and not on a national news stations website, the
lax, entertaining piece of media gave the appearance of Obama and his campaign
to be taking women and their issues less seriously than had been previously expressed.
The sloppy appearance of the woman and
the belittling statement she is posed for sends a disturbing message (enthymeme)
to the women who viewed the page and saw the post: a woman should vote solely
based on her gender and the body parts it came with.
Women who saw the ad responded saying that the "statement was misogynistic, and they plan on voting with their brains...also pointing out that abortions aren't really in their gender's best interest, especially when those abortions are sex-selective. (Hamilton)"
These three images used by the
Obama campaign use different methods (and sometimes a combination of) logos,
pathos, and ethos, with the intent of influencing and encouraging the voters to
believe in Obama and his beliefs.
Although some are more popular than others, they are all effective in
using convincing messages to sway the audience towards Obama, or frighten them
away with fear for their body parts.
Works cited
Hamilton,
Amelia. “Obama campaign removes ‘vote like your ladies parts depend on it.’” Red Alert Politics. N.p. 2 Oct. 2012.
Web. 2 Oct. 2012. <http://redalertpolitics.com/2012/10/02/obama-campaign-removes-vote-like-your-lady-parts-depend-on-it-tumblr-post-after-conservative-backlash/>.
“Riccardi,
Nicholas. “Women’s Vote Battle Defines 2012 Presidential Election.” Huffington Post. N.p. 27 Aug. 2012. Web.
2 Oct. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/27/womens-vote-2012-election_n_1832825.html>
This was definitely a great read for me. I've seen how Obama addresses womans rights and feel he does it better than most while experimenting with the different ways he can. You breaking down of Obamas twitter post was really interesting, how the change of just on word or phrase can completely change how it speaks to someone reading it, "you" really does have a powerful affect here in a tweet since its supposed t be personal where in another form it's just another word.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed how you pointed out the last picture was pointed on his tumblr page, since tumblr is generally a more loose and funny form of expression the attempt on Obama part was to come off friendly.
You hit on the ethos of Obama having his two daughters and wife backing him when speaking on womens rights and I thought you could've expanded more there since it gives him an upper hand when trying to address those rights. His wife has a twitter account and she constantly posts information about Obama helping womans rights.
The feminist argument, I enjoyed this thoroughly. I haven't heard one person make an feminist argument about Obama during this class, most people have attacked Romney on his positions but this brings up a good point. I have a little background in feminist politics and this seems to bring up the topic of what is being done now. Women are still perceived as a negative force when it comes to politics. I really liked how you included the comment about how women are going to vote with their brains and not with their lady parts. I dont feel that any one candidate has done much to improve women's rights in the last 50 years.
ReplyDeleteNotes while reading:
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting to think about the claims made during the campaign about what issues were actually the most important to women. The Romney campaign and his supporters kept wanting to argue that jobs and the economy were the central issues for women voters, which may have been true, except for the fact that those other issues you mention – abortion and health care – were pretty significant too, in light of Romney’s proposed policies. What’s more interesting, perhaps, is the idea that women voters could be portratyed as monolithic. Politicians love to do this, as in “The American people don’t want” or “Middle-class Americans understand” and so forth. It never really makes sense, except of course in retrospect, when we know that Romney got pummeled by women…
In fact, Obama pushed against this claim that “women believe x” when he states that they are not an interest group. It’s actually a very shifty little rhetorical slogan.
There is a pathetic element to the slogan, but don’t you think there’s a logical appeal as well? He’s got an enthymeme in there, somewhere, with a missing premie which is something like “Women are just as capable as men of making their own choices” (maybe) which allows for that conclusion. In any case, I do see logic at work here.
I like the way you discuss social media. Obama is covering a couple of bases here by especially targeting younger women, who are more likely to be liberal on the sorts of social issues that he is targeting every time he uses the words “choices” or “decisions.” It’s not Ann Romney we’re talking about here!
I like your emphasis on the pronoun ‘you,’ because Obama uses it to personalize the appeal – it’s the one-to-one illusion that social media seems to be especially good at fostering. (Maybe it’s not always an illusion – I am somewhat of a Luddite when it comes to social media…I haven’t checked my facebook for about 3 months.)
Was there some controversy about that picture appearing on the website (the “lady parts” one)? I am not so sure that it’s as demeaning as you read it, though I like your take on it, that it suggests a physical drive for a vote rather than an intellectual drive. But I suspect that the joke was written with a feminist appeal – that is, I imagine that it meant to suggest that Romney did not care about women’s health issues.
Interesting that the outrage was from conservatives – they repeatedly tried to get Obama for things like this – or for comments that supporters made (of course Obama’s supporters tried to do the same thing with Romney, so…). Still, did you find any examples of outrage about the piece by liberal women? It seems like one of those Romney charges destined not to stick…
Jodi –
ReplyDeleteThis is a fun and engaging piece of writing, with a lively tone and a degree of playfulness, while still working through a serious text. You do a nice job of thinking through the the three texts you explore here – careful and focused for the most part. I think you could have spent a little more time on the last image, in part because I am not sure about the reading you offer: that is, I am not sure that the image ends up being misogynist, even if some conservative commentators saw it as such. But, the fact that the campaign removed it, suggests that even the possibility of being read that way was enough to frighten it away. That image itself, though, and the controversy around it, could have been used as the focus of an interesting rhetorical analysis.
I’d like you to think a little about structure as you look back over your piece: for example, you break up your essay into three parts, basically, one for each text. That provides it a very traditional, almost five-paragraph essay structure. I won’t say that it doesn’t work, but there are ways that it limits you from making fuller connections across texts (to my mind, as a writer and a reader, that’s the biggest problem with that sort of structure: it requires separate ideas where the real pleasure comes from connecting and exploring them. I’d just like you to think about the possiblities of other forms of organization with a piece like this, since I think this might be a little limiting for you.
I kow you are present intelletually in class Jodi; – at least I think you are. (Your paper and your blog are evidence that you are, I would add). But I wish I’d heard more from you over the course of the semester. It would be pleasant to hear you work through some of these ideas as well in the classroom.
Kirk