Obama/Romney and Project Proposal

Comparing Obama’s and Romney’s Convention Speeches

I believe that both men were very successful during the debate. When grading the two candidates, I would give Obama 8 out of 10 and Romney 7 out of 10.  I felt that Obama did a better job of presenting a broad range of topics. He wanted to reassure his voters that he is still the man for the job and thank them for standing behind him for the last four years by saying, “You were the change.” He emphasized several times how important the publics’ support for him was, which I think both excited the Democratic party and urged them to all get out and vote and I also think it helped sway some undecided voters who would feel that Obama would genuinely appreciate their vote and support over the next 4 years. Obama definitely appealed to his base audience by rousing their spirits and sticking to the facts. Since we have seen Obama for the last four years, he didn’t’ need this speech to introduce himself to the country; he needed this time to ignite supports and sway the undecided by remaining calm, cool, and collected and reassuring them that if given four more years, he will continue to take the country in the direction he feels is right and continue the Hope and Change from 2008.

Romney once again tried stressing his normality to the crowd. He wanted to take this opportunity to get his face out there, while also presenting his tactics to people who may be unfamiliar with them. I feel that he did a good job of appealing to his base audience. The Republican Party strives on big business success, so him name-dropping very successful companies he has built, like Staples, and also making reference to figures like Steve Jobs, was definitely a good tactic to use. This excited the Republican voters and urged them to get out and vote. I think Romney did an average job of appealing to undecided voters, but if they were to strictly base their vote on this speech, I believe Obama would definitely have the edge. I believe Romney felt like he had too much to cover, with having to identify himself to the public and also give a basis on his policies. While both speeches were delivered well and with ease, I believe in the end Obama preserved.

Project Proposal

1.     My goal in this project is to examine the Welfare system. I believe that this seriously falls through the cracks and that more answers need to be provided to the American public about how the Democrats and Republicans feel about this topic and what they can do to improve it. I especially want to find information on Romney and Obama’s plans concerning this issue.

2.     My target audience is young adults who are actively seeking jobs. I believe that this group deserves to know how this system works since upon employment, they will be helping to support the system. I feel like there has always been a cloud of confusion surrounding this, so I hope to clear a few things up.

3.     I would really like to do a video, but if my technical abilities fail me then I will do a pamphlet.

4.     I feel that social media sites would be the best way to get my information out, utilizing Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. If I do a pamphlet, I can distribute it on Library Bridge or post them around campus.

5.     Hopefully I will help people understand which candidate they agree with on the issue, which will ultimately help them decide who to vote for and just motivate them to go vote! If I feel like one person is motivated to do so, I will feel successful. If I see that my video has a lot of views or my pamphlet pops up random places, then I will be able to measure my success. 

Mitt Romney and Barack Obama's Speeches

While watching both Governor Romney and President Obama give their speeches at their respective national conventions, I felt that both of them were quite effective. Both candidates spoke often about "believing in America" and what they were going to do to make America. Each of them did have their own strenth and weaknesses, however. I would give Governor Romney a B+ in effectiveness for his own base and about a C as far as trying to convince someone who was on the fence to vote for him (in comparison to President Obama). Romney is a poised speaker, he had many good things to say about past leaders (including Neil Armstrong). He spoke on how America has the freedom of religion, life and business, which was extremely important for him to mention to the right wing voters. He also talked about how he wishes President Obama would have succeeded in many of his plans because he wants America to succeed. I believe this was important for him to mention that there is a bigger picture than one man doing the job. It wouldn't just be him as president, it is America as a whole. Romney also did bring up how he had appointment females in his offices, but I did not think that was an effective part of his speech. To me this seemed like much more of a political talking point than him actually proving that he was "pro-women." His effectiveness truly showed at the end when he talks about restoring America to it's prosperity that it deserves and speaking of "That America." He used a specific rhythm in his speech at the very end that proud the crowd to their feet and was moving. As far as President Obama's scores, I would give him an A- for talking to his "base" and an A- for people who are on the fence. I truly don't believe that anyone could watch Barack Obama speak and truthfully say that he's not an effective speech giver. It is almost unbelievable how good he is at it (possibly to his own detriment for those who think he might be just a little bit "too smooth"). Some things that were quite effective in his speech is that he brought up certain hot topics and his plan for them. He spoke on not letting foreign countries control our oil prices, brining tuition costs down for college, making sure veterans can find a job when they return from war, and opening more plants so that our products can still be "Made In America." I thought that this was one of his major effective aspects of his speech, that he incorporated so many tangible improvements. These things are people can actually see and not some nebulous political talking point. He had the crowd roaring. Some things that I didn't think were as effective in his speech was when he talked about workers "building a business." I just though this was comical in regards to his slip up of saying "you didn't build that." However, to be completely honest if I watched these two speeches and had no prior knowledge of their politics, President Obama's speech was, in my opinion, much more effective in getting those swing voters.

Speech comparisons:

Mitt Romney: Although he spent a good portion of his speech discussing the typical candidate praises of the United States that play well to members of both parties (Americans are hard working, have freedom), Mitt Romney made a clear effort to reach out to undecided voters and independents during his speech at the RNC. Although only group he explicitly targeted was women and he didn’t delve too deep statistically into too many issues, his main appeal to undecided voters (which cleverly doubled as an appeal to his Republican base) was the idea that Obama has failed as a president and he doesn’t deserve another four years, which is a wide-reaching strategy. He made a comparison to Jimmy Carter (historically an retrospectively unpopular president) and hammered home the idea of “failed hope” that Barack Obama’s presidency has given Americans. His speech was well organized and his tone authoritative, giving the impression that he’s ready to represent the United States to the rest of the world. Grades: A to Republicans/B+ to undecided voters.

Barack Obama: Well-known as a strong orator, Barack Obama’s speech at the DNC was calmly authoritative delivered with the assured, confident tone that has become his trademark. Although Obama also sang the praises of the United States (which, again, plays well with all voters), he focused on issues that resonated strongly with Democrats, specifically referencing education, energy independence, and women’s rights as specific issues that are generally championed by the Democrats. Although Obama did make some appeals to independents, his primary point was that a Romney presidency will offer more of the same Republican policies that George W. Bush supported, and that point leans more partisan than not. Additionally, his humorous quips about the Republican party as a whole were probably ineffective to voters other than Democrats. Grades: A+ to Democrats/B to undecided voters.

Comparison: Barack Obama and Mitt Romney’s key points essentially both centered around whether or not the former should receive another term in office, but their methods of communicating their reasons why or why not Obama should remain President were quite different. Romney focused heavily on the idea that Obama had failed to fulfill any promises he made on the 2008 campaign trail, where Obama indirectly responded to these claims by listing what he had achieved in the past three years. Although both candidates took shots at the other, Obama’s speech went slightly more on the offensive than Romney’s, often making quips about his opponent and the Republican party as a whole, questioning their credibility by bringing up references to the unpopular George W. Bush years. (Which was perhaps a response to Romney comparing Obama to Jimmy Carter, another president who has been remembered unfavorably.) Regardless of their content and effectiveness at convincing undecided voters to vote for them, both speeches were effective in energizing their bases, which is a primary goal at the national conventions.

Project proposal:

1.     1. My goal is to create an attractive infographic that contains the education proposals of both candidates including information on the proposed amount of federal funds to be allocated towards education, student loan policies, and education goals/standards. I hope to condense the educational policies of both candidates into a package that is easily read and comprehended in order to inform potential voters.

2.     2. My target audience is voters who have an interest in American education policies. To reach that audience, I would need to focus on outlets and locations where educators and students gather. (Primarily universities.)

3.     3. The form of my project would be an image that would fit cleanly on a piece of paper or on a computer screen. It could be created in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator.

4.     4. The project could be distributed in physical form on campuses or digitally on any number of education/college-related websites.

5.     5. Hopefully, if my project is successful, voters would be more informed of the candidates’ education policies. However, it would be difficult to track the level of information actually received by those who view the infographic.

Project Proposal

1. The goal for this Political Communication project is to as simple as this sounds, encourage people to get out and vote. We have millions of people each year who simply do not vote when this is one of our rights as citizens. I feel that a lot of times people do not think that their vote counts, and while I sometimes understand this notion, if everyone who thought that way actually voted, this nation might be a different place. It is so unbelievably important to have your voice heard, and that I what I am encouraging people to do in my project. It's simple: vote. 2. My target audience is college students. I feel that these are the ones that are super difficult to reach because they don't think that politics truly effect them yet when the truth of the matter is, it is effecting them much sooner than they think. In order to do this I need to do something that is relevant for 18-22 year olds. This would include some type of video that is comical and would catch on to the YouTube environment. 3. My form of communication will be via video. I will need to come up with a catchy script that comically encourages people to vote. The comedy will increase my ethos because other college students will be able to relate to me on the level that I am too in college. 4. I would like to distribute this information via social media. This would include mainly Youtube, Facebook and Twitter. This is how information is passed in the younger generation, and therefore would be the best way to reach my target audience. 5. If I am successful, there will be an increase in college-age voters this election. In order to measure this I would need to check up on registrations and actual voting records. I need to keep thinking this plan through and hashing out details, because seeing actual success is a little bit difficult in a project such as this one. But if the initiative was to get more people to register to vote, this would be an easy thing to count and see how many people registered post video. The problem is we don't want them to simply register, but to vote also.

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. 

Semester Project Proposal

1. What is your goal? What do you hope to change and/or improve with your project?
For my project, I want to educate the American public on the issues surrounding the Arab Spring and the uprisings in the Middle East. This is a topic that I myself do not fully understand but in my opinion it is absolutely crucial to know about. What I am hoping to do is educate the average voter about the history of the conflicts in the Middle East, how they are effecting America, and how each candidate plans 

2. Who is your target audience? What will you need to do to focus on and reach that audience specifically? 
My target audience is the average American voter who is not informed on the topic. I want people to understand how important the conflicts in the Middle East are to America; how they impact both national security and the economy. 

3. What form will your communication take? How will you create it?
I want to do some sort of poster, pamphlet, or simple animated presentation. My idea is to illustrate the history of the conflicts in simple animation with basic commentary similar to the popular video on YouTube about the overpopulation crisis. 

4. How will you distribute the information? 
If it's a poster, I would like to post it in public places. If I do a video or animated presentation I would like to post it on YouTube or Facebook. 

5. If your project is successful, what will be different/changed/improved? How will you measure or demonstrate your project's effects? 
It will be hard to measure how effective my project will be. Hopefully, those who see it will have a better understanding if the issue and will not be so quick to judge those involved. I know a huge problem with Middle Eastern relations in public opinion is a sense that all Muslims are extremists and I hope that my presentation can clear some of that bias up a bit. 

Project Proposal

1. What is your goal? What do you hope to change and/or improve with your project?
I would like to do my project on the issue of getting people to actually go out and vote. Two of my roommates were not concerned about voting and I even printed off the forms and gave them to them multiple times and they still said they were too busy to fill them out and mail them in. It just upsets me because voting is so important! Obviously, I want people to vote for the candidate that I support, but I would rather have people vote for the other candidate and care enough about the future of our country by being passionate about an issue or a candidate than not vote at all. My goal is that my project will at least inspire one person to go vote who was not going to before.

2. Who is your target audience? What will you need to do to focus on and reach that audience specifically? 
My target audience is the people who either do not care enough to go vote or the people who claim their vote doesn't matter. Every vote matters and counts; and I want people to realize that and get out there and make their voice heard. They need to feel that it is really important that they take the time to fill out the form and go out on November 6th to make their voice heard.

3. What form will your communication take? How will you create it?
I would really like to do a video, but I don't know if I am capable of doing something with fancy editing. I might make a music video with the words changed, or do a documentary of sorts that would be persuasive to my target audience.

4. How will you distribute the information? 
I could definitely post a video on youtube and facebook, so if I end up doing that it would be great.

5. If your project is successful, what will be different/changed/improved? How will you measure or demonstrate your project's effects? 

Hopefully I will convince people to vote! Unfortunately it will be hard to tell if I made a difference, since the deadline to register is already past, but I would like to see people register to vote, and go vote even in the smaller elections. I will feel accomplished if I can get my 2 roommates to go and and register.

Project Proposal

Elisabeth Peters: Project Proposal- The Welfare System

1.     My goal in this project is to delve into the welfare system and to look specifically at what has been done to it over time (its history) and what the democrats and republicans have to say about it (particularly Obama and Romney). I hope to be able to inform voters and citizens of America what our current policy is and what I think can be done to fix it.

2.     My target audience is primarily young adults who want social reform to, as cliché as it sounds, make the world a better place. However, I feel like there are a lot of mixed feelings on the welfare system, and I want to clear up what it actually is and what its effects are so that all of Americans can have a full understanding of it before they pass judgment. I will therefore need to do a lot of research but synthesize it in a way that is easy to understand but also holistic. I will also find some personal stories of people who have been on welfare and how it has helped them, for emotional appeal.

3.     I plan on making a video. I think I will have a voiceover of me talking about the welfare system with pictures and maybe video clips of the system in action.

4.     I will distribute it on YouTube.

5.     I think if it’s successful, it could at the very least inform people about our current system. Hopefully, though, it will do more than that. I’m hoping to humanize those who are on welfare and let their stories be told. I want people to understand that they are Americans too and they need help- in one way or another. If I find significant flaws within the current system, I will hopefully be able to do some research and offer some suggestions on how it can be improved as well. I can measure the effects of it spreading general knowledge about the welfare system based on the number of viewers of the video. But measuring if/how it improves the welfare system will really only be able to be demonstrated through political policy change. 

Political Comm Project Proposal

1.  My goal with this project is to portray the perspective of individuals that wouldn’t normally consider themselves politically involved, but are aware of the implications that come with a presidential election.  It’s been a struggle to follow the election without being very knowledgeable about each candidate’s policies, images, or proposed ideas, so I hope that this project can provide a little insight into the decision-making philosophy of undecided voters in a bipartisan manner.

2.  The audience that I want to target with my project is partisan individuals who have already decided where they will cast their vote.  I think it’s important for strictly Republicans or strictly Democrats to have a better idea of how uniformed voters might feel about both candidates.  I think that bringing humor into the project will make it something people of all ideologies will want to see while still providing the information that the target audience needs to see.

3.  The communication will take place in a video.  If all goes as planned, a parody music video will be able to effectively capture the points that I am attempting to make.  The video will incorporate some humorous jabs at both candidates, while also expressing why an undecided individual would or wouldn’t want to vote for either one.

4.  I think that most effective way to distribute a video will be to upload the content onto Youtube and then provide the link to friends through different social networks.  If the video is popular, then my hope is that it can get spread across networks of people at Clemson, followed by wider-reaching areas.

5.  If my project is successful, I think it will make people more aware of the reasons why an uninformed person would or would not want to vote for either presidential nominee.  The main issue being addressed is political apathy and how it can affect where individuals might cast their vote.  Effectiveness of the video can be measured through the number of views, likes, or comments that it generates, as well as they extend to which it is shared across different social media sites.

Project Proposal

My goal for this project is to present an analysis of both President Obama’s and Governor Romney’s health care plans in order to inform voters about details concerning those plans and make them aware of how important this topic is to every American. My target audience is basically everyone as this concerns supporters of both parties. In fact, anybody could theoretically be part of the audience as this issue is not limited to a specific group of people. Thus, with my project I am appealing to people who are interested in learning more about health care which currently is a very relevant topic in the United States. I am not completely certain about the form of the project yet. I do not want it to be a written essay as I think this would not be able to help me present the topic in an interesting, appealing way. Presentations like this one can be found in every newspaper and people have been overwhelmed with statements about health care reforms for several months and years. Instead, I want to use audio and video in order to present the facts in a visual way that is as easy to understand as possible. In order to distribute the information, I will use the internet and social media as I think this is the most effective way to reach people these days. The video could be posted on websites such as YouTube and Vimeo as well as social networks like Facebook and Twitter. If my project is successful, people will be more informed about Obama’s and Romney’s ideas about health care and should have enough details in order to decide which concept they think is better. I have an opinion about this issue and I would know who to vote for in terms of health care but I don’t want to make this influence my project. I want it to be as objective as possible so that people can form their own views about it. In order to measure my project’s effects, I will make use of the new media’s advantages and base the video’s effectiveness on people’s comments and reactions to it as well as on how many views I get for it.

Convention Speeches Mitt Romney & Barack Obama

Obama’s and Romney’s Convention Speeches

In my opinion, both President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney delivered very good and elaborated speeches at their parties’ national conventions. In terms of efficiency, I would give Obama an A- and Romney a B-. Although one could argue that Obama is a better speaker than Romney given his experience as President, the latter did a very good job in reaching his audience as well. Both had quite the same goals in their speeches: present their ideas of the role of the President of the United States, create an image of themselves, and convince both their supporters as well as those who are still undecided that they will be successful with their visions and agendas. Throughout their speeches, they used many similar rhetorical figures, such as repetitions to place emphasis on the topics close to their hearts – or on those that they thought would be effective – as well as the fact that they were both very clear in their choice of words. What they said was eloquent and elaborated but still easy to understand. This is a very important feature any successful speech should have to reach its audience. As both candidates managed to do so, I believe that their arguments were very effective to the undecided.

President Barack Obama

President Obama presented a very smart choice of topics. When it comes to his supporters that he had to convince to vote for him again, what I thought to be very effective was the fact that he directly addressed his audience by referring to his campaign four years ago and acknowledging them with the words “You were the change” and “Four years ago the election wasn’t about me, it was about you”. This appealed to the Democratic supporters, implying that they are the reason why things have changed for the better. It is very likely that this strategy reaches the audience and their emotions – making them feel proud – and makes them vote for Obama once again. Undecided voters might be impressed by his outstanding talent as a public speaker and the authentic, very credible way in which he creates an image of himself and presents the goals he promises to accomplish in his second legislation. To address the American people as a whole, he chose to talk about something that each and every one of them is able to relate to: American patriotism. By mentioning the label “Made in America” and referring to the products that, under his presidency in the past four years, would be proudly be presented as such, he once again tries to appeal to people’s national proud. Obviously, he also talks about what he has achieved so far and how he fulfilled his promises, such as the end of the war in Iraq. To conclude, I would say that Obama’s speech was very effective in general, which is why I would give him a very good grade. However, I think it was more effective for his “base” audience than for undecided voters which is why I choose A- instead of an A. Still, he definitely phrased his arguments very well and made his position clear by emphasizing the issues that he believes in and at the same time, opposing republican ideas like health care, gay marriage, and abortion. All in all, it must be recognized that Obama already had an established image of himself that he only had to keep instead of create as it was rather Romney’s goal.

Governor Mitt Romney

Romney had, in my opinion, a more difficult task to complete than Obama. On the national scene, he is not as well-known as the President and it is harder for people to base their opinions about the elections based on his previous actions. Thus, Romney has to explain his ideas and policies in a credible and reasonable way. I think, he did a good job in focusing on exactly what his audience wanted to hear. To seem authentic and credible, he presented a list of facts and made his republican principles very clear. Also, he wanted to appear “normal” and indirectly compared himself to the average American. His goal might have been to tell his audience who he is in order to help them relate to him better. To do so, he used emotional images like the anecdote about how his mother knew his father had died the one day there was not a rose for her – a story that would probably appeal to everyone and thus has the potential to be effective to everyone. I would give him a B+ appealing to his “base” audience as he did a good job promoting conservative principles like, for instance, the importance of community and religion – values that the majority of his voters hold. Also, his Republican audience probably wanted to hear about Romney’s plans for the economic recovery as many of them are concerned with economic issues these days. When it comes to the effectiveness of Romney’s speech in appealing to undecided voters, I think he did not focus enough time on this goal or at least it did not seem like it. He might not have done anything to hurt himself but he did not help himself gain an advantage for undecided voters either. Many arguments seemed very forced. One aspect of his speech that might have reached them, however, was his appeal to women and feminists who typically are more liberal and thus rather in favor of the Democratic Party. Saying that “a mom’s job was harder than his” sounds more like a Democratic feature (referring to Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention) than a Republican one and might reach rather liberal voters. Another aspect that probably was supposed to serve as an argument for undecided voters was Romney’s statement about Obama’s legislation, criticizing him for not having led America to success. At this point, he also challenged the President’s voters directly by saying “Hope and change is what we voted for – that’s what America deserves”. In general, I would give him a B- for his speech, as he did a good job appealing to his base audience but was not very successful in reaching undecided voters.