Convention Comparison and Project Plan

Comparing Mitt Romney and Barack Obama’s Speech

When comparing Mitt Romney and Barack Obama’s speeches at each of their conventions, we can look at a couple of things. First, how they conquered their goal of the speech, to show who was the best man for the job and second to look at how effective each candidates speech was towards their base as well as undecided Americans. Romney began his speech by addressing that most American’s doubt that their kids will have a better future, evoking a want for change in the audience. Change being a topic that both his base and undecided voters want to hear about. He then brought in some American’s that model a successful “American dream” such as Neil Armstrong. A speech that is expected to be full of logos shifted to a pathos outlook as Romney touched on the story of his mom and dad, women’s rights, and how he wanted to strengthen lives that were based on family, communities, and faith. One of his talking points, which I thought had a strong impact on the undecided, was the fact that he had plenty of experience in business, and why Obama would attack his success. Romney then talked about his plan. He had a plan to create 12 million new jobs with a 5- step process. Throughout his speech he said exactly what the audience wanted to hear, whether the audience be Republican, Democrat, or undecided. He did a great job appealing to women and young students, which is what Obama is known for. The main talking points in his speech are hard for anyone to argue with.

One could find Barack Obama’s speech very similar. Although, Obama’s speech was not the peppy speech of a newcomer President so it was probably more questioned than Mitt Romney, as many of his promises in 2008 have not been fulfilled. He covers this by saying that he will not pretend like his path will be quick or easy. He began by telling his audience he was not going to tell them what they wanted to hear but the truth. Throughout his speech he took no personal shots at Mitt Romney but told his audience that Romney’s plan was similar to so many other past presidents. “Now, our friends down in Tampa, at the Republican convention, were more than happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with America, but they didn’t have much to say about how they’d make it right” (Barack Obama). Barack Obama, known for his passionate speeches did just this. He touched on his achievements over the past 4 years, which failed to be given credit by many, so it was nice to be reminded.

It is my opinion that Mitt Romney did a better job appealing to the undecided. Although, Barack Obama had the harder job, he had to convince people that what he did not get done in the past 4 years he would get done in the next 4 years. As we have talked about in class, it would have been nice if Obama would have focused more on what he is going to do different to evoke change than explain it is hard to have change in 4 years. “And the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades” (Barack Obama). Both of the speeches were filled with more talking points evoking emotion than giving the audience hard facts.

Project Plan

For my Political Communication’s project, because I want to learn more about the issue, I want to focus my project on the economy.

1. I want to give the students the unbiased facts about where our economy is at this time. I want to research unemployment and debt and give information to the class on such an important, hot topic issue. I want to look at Mitt Romney and Barack Obama’s plan towards changing the state of the economy and let each class member decide on their own, who is the better Presidential candidate for this issue. This is something that I am interested in because my father was a small business owner and 3 years ago his business of 25 years went under with the economy.

2. My target audience would be college students, more specifically my class. To be able to get their attention I would bring in facts on the economy for college students. I could focus on the unemployment rate, as it is so important to us college students to graduate with a degree and find a good job. Instead, as we all know, many jobs are hard to find and many students end up going home to live with their parents after graduation.

3 and 4 – I want to create my project through some type of multimedia. Maybe similar to the videos that we have spent watching in class. I want my project to be creative and evoke and keep the interest of college students like myself.

5. If my project is successful, I want my classmates to be able to choose the better Presidential candidate for helping change the state of the economy. I want my classmates and peers to see the facts because it is an issue that ranks highest on my list of important issues coming up before the election.