A presidents inaugural address is usually designed to set the tone for the next four years (or at least until the next day, when his critics and the media get down to serious business).  Of the three rhetorical appeals, it focuses primarily on ethos and pathos, and much less on logos, since the country is pretty much logosed out by inauguration day.  This is a speech of healing and hope, putting the divisiveness of the campaign away for now, and looking forward to a future of working together as Americans toward a common goal (ha-ha!).

In this paper, I would like you to read the inaugural addresses of Presidents Obama and Trump and analyze each in terms of both content and style, with special attention paid to the three appeals as well as those rhetorical strategies–tropes and schemesthey deploy to convince their supporters that they will get what they voted for and their critics that the next four years will not be as terrible as they anticipate. I also want you to compare and contrast the projected audience (i.e., us) for each of the speeches and examine whether they are the same or not.

[Remember: This is not about your personal politics.  It is about rhetoric and you should approach each speech as dispassionately as humanly possible.] 

The paper should be 4-5 pages long and formatted/documented according to the MLA style.  Limit your outside research to the speeches themselvestext and videothough you may want to search out some of the campaign speechestext and videoof both as points of comparison between the rhetorical techniques used to attain the office and those used once they have.