http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/2008/man-in-the-arena-web
This is a presidential campaign commercial for McCain. In this commercial he uses historical references, children in the present, and his own speech to make his point that he is who the people should vote for to make our future better.
This commercial uses quotes from previous presidents and video clips that show the past history of America. It also uses clips of children playing in the present day to tie to the viewers emotions. And he uses his speech to talk about the future, tying in the past present and future. When I watched this commercial I got goosebumps. It reminded me of triumph, success, freedom, misfortune, pride, courage, faith, and love for our country. We have fought for our rights and fought for our successes. McCain brings those instances into his commercial to remind people what this country is about. In his own speech in the commercial he uses strong points to ensure the viewers faith in him as a president. He specifically says he is not looking to be president for the entitlement, but that he feels he owes America much more than she owes him. He also closes out the commercial with a point that if he is president we will do what we should as a country and make it a better place. Basically CANT is not a possibility. These are all very strong attributes to his campaign commercial.
In Aristotle’s list of exceptions for using rhetoric, one of them is in a situation where you are trying to prove that you are right. In a campaign it is a fight for who is the RIGHT person for the position. Therefore during a campaign you make every attempt to prove your worth and to disprove someone elses.
McCain shows our courage throughout history to stay free and strong. He makes a point in the beginning of the commercial that we will never surrender but that they will. He is using history to make a statement. We succeed in our battles and never forfeit our right to freedom. Touching on the emotional ties people have to war and what we have gone through since this country was founded makes his points ten times stronger.
Aristotle’s points that rhetoric can be used as a good thing is very agreeable. This commercial portrays McCain’s faith in America and his support and his emotional ties to it as well. It shows that he is human just like everyone else and he values America to the full extent. It shows that he is fighting to prove he is the RIGHT person for president.
This commercial uses factual references based on evidence as well as emotional references that appeal to emotions. I think the factual references it uses are not only factual but that they also have emotional pull. It also ties both the factual references and emotional references to McCain’ own words to show his trustworthiness and support for this country. It is not a commercial where he is saying he is better than Obama or pointing out the negatives in Obama. His only motive is to show his worthiness of being president because of what he believes in. I found that because he did not belittle Obama or form any negatives throughout the commercial that that made it much stronger. I felt connected to the commercial, I felt goosebumps, and it made me want McCain as president even more than I did before. I found that the rhetoric used was very beneficial and powerful. We as people are emotion based and there is no reason we should not tap into those emotions when making a decision on someone for president.
(I watched a few of Obama’s commercials and found nothing compareable to this one – in my opinion)
