Clinton's Acceptance Speech -- 1996 -- Rhetorical Situation:

Subject: Presidential acceptance speeches have a number of formal expectations. They need to 1) establish a theme for the campaign and for the prospective presidency: this requires that the candidate inform the public of goals, minimize distortions of his/her plans, and create expectations about what is to come in the campaign and presidency, 2) distinguish the candidate from the opposing candidate, 3) isolate a distinct reason why the candidate should be elected president, and 4) should be presidential in tone. The last characteristic means that the acceptance speech rarely explicitly attacks the opponent, given that such an attack would make the candidate appear too partisan, and not presidential.

Audience: Two main audiences exist: the convention delegates and the American electorate (non-voters are not really an audience, although those who are probably going to vote are -- these folks you want to motivate to vote). Within the electorate, there also are two main audiences: pro-candidate voters and the uncommitted. Most candidates want to maintain the beliefs of the committed and alter the beliefs of the uncommitted. Those who are staunchly for the opposing candidate are usually ignored as an audience, given it is unlikely that their views can be changed. The main problem is reaching the audience members, and making them believe their votes count. Also, a growing number of the electorate are cynical about politics, so the candidate needs to convince them that politics still matter. Uniquely for Clinton, he faces the problem that he is so far ahead in the polls. One of the problems for a candidate who has a large lead is that their supporters may get lazy. So Clinton really needs to maintain action.

Rhetor: Clinton faces problems, but also has resources he can draw on. In terms of problems, issues of character continue to dog him. He also has a clear record with which to judge his time in office. However, given the good economic indicators, his record appears to be more of a resource than a problem. Clinton also has the resource that he already is the president, therefore it is easy for him to appear presidential.

Elements: 1. purpose and thesis: Clinton's purposes include: 1) accepting the nomination, 2) recounting his administration's success so that he maintains belief in his supporters and alters belief in those who are uncertain, 3) defining his past term and pointing to future directions, 4) criticizing the Republican Congress, arguing for a Democratic congress to be elected, and 5) defining a positive, yet limited, role for government so that he can prevent mischaracterizations of his policies -- here he develops the campaign theme of "building a bridge to the 21st century." The thesis is most likely contained in the sentence: "We are on the right track to the 21st century. We are on the right track, but our work is not finished." In many ways, this summarizes his position that he has done good work in the last 4 years, and should be elected to another 4 to complete the good work started. Another likely thesis candidate is when Clinton says: "Now, here's the main idea . . . we do not need to build a bridge to the past. We need to build a bridge to the future. . . ."

2. audiences: numerous audiences are identified throughout the speech, from the party to all American voters. He defines his audience as the "American community," creating an ideal audience, where all are connected, yet maintain identity as individuals. He also targets specific audiences, like criminals, not to directly talk to criminals, but to let voters overhear him so they are convinced he is hard on crime. The first few pages on the speech, the "you" with which he has journeys appears to the be the Dem party. He transitions from the Party to the American community when he identifies the specific people to whom he has talked.

3. tone: the attitude toward the audience is one of respect and hope. He also identifies them as "fellow" Americans, indicating that the president is not above the people, but is elected by them. He also is very conversational in his discussion of problems and solutions. He does not use high style, as Dole does in places, but instead appears to be chatted with his "fellow Americans" about things they all understand. Conversational style is indicated by the numerous short clauses, simple language, simple sentence structure, and simple metaphors. It also is indicated by the numerous personal stories interjected.

4. evidence: most of the evidence is personal story, or is a simple recounting of the past administration's successes. In one case, he also uses evidence from his opponent to indict his opponent's policy (the 2% interest rate increase "according to their own estimates"). The use of enumeration, piling success on top of success makes the past four years appear even more effective.

5. structure: overall, the speech moves from a recounting of past successes, to a description of present problems, to pointing to future solutions, a structure which reinforces the bridge to the future theme. There also are internal structures to each problem: he presents a problem, and then immediately presents a solution, making his appear to be a problem solver, an effective leader. Part of the structure also includes the topics chosen -- note he focuses most of his attention on domestic issues (education/environment/economy, issues which voters care more about), and when he does discuss foreign policy, he always ties it back to domestic issues, like terrorism.

6. persona: clearly, he plays the role of president, identifying what he has accomplished. He also plays the role of friend and father, persona that may help answer some of the ethics charges. The conversational tone also reinforces the friend persona.

7. strategy: 1) limit character attacks: in the section where he indicates he "will not attack them personally or permit others to do it," he limits the ability of Dole to introduce the character issue or to use surrogates to introduce it. He also indicates that this is a "campaign of ideas, not a campaign of insults." So, if there are any non-idea arguments made, they will look like insults, not legitimate assessments of presidential character. 2) coopt Dole's theme: when Dole introduced the argument that his age was an asset, he attempted to undercut one of the key problems he faced. However, the way he undercut the issue was by introducing the bridge metaphor. Clinton effectively coopted the metaphor, indicating that Dole was backward looking, not future-oriented, which is a valid criticism of a president (too old, alone, is not a valid criticism). In many ways, Dole's attempt to address the age issue simply reinforced criticisms of him. The reason why age might be an issue is that someone is too locked into the past. 3) Clinton modeled the success of his state of the union. The most recent major speech he had delivered was a state of the union. This speech was widely accepted as one of his best, and, when Dole responded to it, he did a very poor job, appearing "mean" and disorganized. In many ways, Clinton's acceptance speech was more like a state of the union. It identified where we are, and pointed to legislative directions for the future. Clinton simply replicated a formula that had worked before. 4) define a limited, yet necessary, role for government: one of the main criticisms of Dems is that they are "big government." Clinton attempted to prevent this mischaracterization of his position by identifying areas where the government can play a positive and necessary role. This also fits in with the community theme, where he argues "The real choice is whether we will build a bridge to the future or a bridge to the past. About whether we believe our best days are still out there, or our best days are behind us. About whether we want a country of people all working together, or one where you are on your own." His vision include a government that facilitates community, and creates incentive to work together.