metonymy and metaphor in barack obama's speeches

Metonymy and Metaphor

in Barack Obama's Speeches

A Cognitive Approach

Alexander MüllerMatrikel No.: 3265725Course of Studies: Lehramt Gymnasium Mathematik / Englischemail: [email protected]dresden.de

Prof. Dr. Ursula SchaeferSeminar „Cognitive Linguistics“Wintersemester 2008/09

May 25, 2010

Table of Content1. Introduction....................................................................................................12. Metonymy and Metaphor in Barack Obama's Speeches.................................2

2.1 Metonymy.................................................................................................2 2.1.1 Theoretical Background.....................................................................2 2.1.2 Analysis of Obama's Speeches...........................................................2

2.2 Metaphor..................................................................................................4 2.2.1 Theoretical Background.....................................................................4 2.2.2 Conceptual metaphors: example life/history is a journey..................5 2.2.3 Conceptual metaphors for other image schemas..............................6 2.2.4 Novel metaphors................................................................................9

3. Conclusion....................................................................................................154. Appendix......................................................................................................16

4.1 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address (2004).....................16 4.2 Election Night Speech in Chicago (2008)................................................21 4.3 Inaugural Address Speech (2009)...........................................................26

5. Bibliography.................................................................................................316. Declaration...................................................................................................32

Metonymy and Metaphor in Barack Obama's Speeches. A.Müller, 2010

1

1. Introduction

Political speeches are a common experience, but most of us have a two-minded

opinion about these speeches: The majority is dull, unimaginative and makes

promises which cannot be kept. But a minority of speeches seems to have that

certain something which distinguishes them from all the others, which “take

you on a journey” and “leave their mark” in our minds. What is it that makes

them so special?

My hypothesis is that the usage of metonymy and metaphor plays a key role

in making a lasting impression. The goal of this paper is to examine the

strategies of metaphor and metonymy from a cognitive point of view. I will

focus on the following questions: Why do we understand metaphor and met-

onymy instantly? Why are some possible, some not? How exactly do they

convey meaning? And can we communicate without them? First I will give a

theoretical overview for each of the figures of speech and then check if my

findings hold true for real-world contexts. For this purpose I chose to analyse

three of Barack Obama’s speeches, namely his Inaugural Address (2009), his

Election Night Victory Speech (2008) and his Keynote address at the Demo-

cratic National Convention (2004).

Metonymy and Metaphor in Barack Obama's Speeches. A.Müller, 2010 1

2. Metonymy and Metaphor in Barack Obama's Speeches

2.1 Metonymy

2.1.1 Theoretical Background

If we go by the definition of Taylor (2003: 125), metonymy is a figure of speech

whereby the name of one entity e1 is used to refer to another entity, e2, which

is contiguous to, or which is associated with e1 . The connection between the

two entities is achieved by what he calls a referring function, which can have a

number of forms: The name of the container can be used for its content, the

name of a producer can refer to his products, the name of a token can refer to

the type, a salient part can be used to refer to the whole (synecdoche).

In cases of uncertainty, there is a simple test to determine whether a partic-

ular figure is a metonymy or a metaphor: For example in “we have tasted the

bitter swill of civil war”(p.28, l.98)1, one could say that war is like a bitter swill,

whereas in “a charter expanded by the blood of generations”(p.28 l.78), the

blood clearly stands for war, but war is not like blood, rather it is associated

with blood. Therefore the former is a case of metaphor and the latter a case of

metonymy.

2.1.2 Analysis of Obama's Speeches

Let us look into some examples of metonymy now. First, we will consider “all of

us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes”(p.19, l.27). Stars and stripes is

a name for the American flag because the 50 stars and thirteen stripes are

what distinguishes it from other flags. It is a reference to the Pledge of Allegi-

ance, which is an oath of loyalty to the United States of America that is fre-

quently recited, e.g. in openings of the US Congress, and is therefore well-

1 All quotations are from speeches of Barack Hussein Obama, namely his Inaugural Address (2009), his Election Night Victory Speech (2008) or his Keynote address at the Democratic National Convention (2004) which can be found in the appendix, page and line numbers are stated for easy reference.


known to the public. It reads as follows:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all."

Francis Bellamy, who wrote the original pledge in August 1892, commented

on the reference to the flag: “The true reason for allegiance to the Flag is the

‘republic for which it stands.’ […] And what does that vast thing, the Republic

mean? It is the concise political word for the Nation” (Baer 1992). The referring

function here is that a national symbol (or its name) can refer to the nation and

its connotations such as shared values, ideology, stereotypes and the like.

My second example is “we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main

Street suffers”(p.23, l.82). Here, the understanding that ‘Wall Street’ is meant

to refer to the ‘financial market’ requires specific knowledge: First, it is the fact

that the most important stock exchange in the USA, New York Stock Exchange,

is located in New York City on Wall Street, a bit of knowledge which is available

to everyone who has watched American news. Second, it is vital to know that

stock markets are part of financial markets and are closely interrelated. It is

however not necessary to know exactly how stock markets work or how this

influences financial markets ― being able to set up the mental links is enough.

Now, the second metonymy builds on the first one in having a parallel referring

function: Again, the name of a street refers to an institution in that street, only

this time it is far more general. A prerequisite for correctly interpreting the met-

onymy is awareness of the fact that in many towns, shopping areas are located

on Main Street, or that if there is a Main Street in a city, you are very likely to

find department stores and all kinds of other businesses there. However, with

the juxtaposition of Wall Street and Main Street it becomes clear that Main

Street does not refer to banks, leaving only businesses of production and ser-

vice: The so-called ‘real economy’.

When mentioning governmental institutions, metonymy is often used: “they

don't want their tax money wasted, by a welfare agency or by the

Pentagon”(p.17, l.58), “who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to

the White House”(p.23, l.85) and “our campaign was not hatched in the halls of


Washington”(p.22, l.44) The names of the buildings accommodating major

institutions often reflect their architecture, they are well-known and easy-to-re-

member. Therefore names of buildings serve as a perfect starting point for a

metonymical referring function. Similarly, the main governmental apparatus is

usually located in the capital of the country, making it possible to comprehend

“the halls of Washington” in an instant.

Metonymy is also frequently used to refer to geographical areas, for

example: “settled the West”(p.27, l.38) or “a collection of red states and blue

states”(p.21, l.10), where the unofficial colours of the Republican (red) and the

Democratic Party (blue) is applied to states that traditionally have more sup-

porters for the respective parties. One can see that, given the knowledge of the

colour code, the concept is readily understandable, whereas explaining the

concept in depth takes a significant effort. This is true for the next example as

well: Mr Obama refers to the states with a car industry as “the collar counties

around Chicago”(p.17, l.58).

Instances of metonymy in the domain of time include “while we breathe, we

hope”(p.25, l.141), where breathing stands as a symbol for living; “Tonight is a

particular honor for me”(p.16, l.7), where the night stands as a representation

for the event of the speech; “what we can and must achieve tomorrow”(p.24,

l.104) meaning not only the following day but future in general.

My last example is a whole series of metonymies: “We worship an awesome

God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around in our

libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States, and, yes,

we've got some gay friends in the Red States.”(p.19, l.23) Here we can see the

true power of this figure of speech: Giving concrete examples is way more

effective than just claiming that differences between supporters of the Demo-

crats and the Republicans are not that big.

As we can see, the essence of metonymy seems to reside in the “possibility

of establishing connections between entities which co-occur within a given con-

ceptual frame” (Taylor 2004: 125) and they help us to name complex con-

structs where it would be too cumbersome (or even impossible) to express


what you really mean.

2.2 Metaphor

2.2.1 Theoretical Background

When a layperson thinks of metaphor, poetic metaphors in the manner of “you

are my rose” immediately come to mind. However, from a cognitive linguistic

point of view, metaphor is much more than that, as I will try to make clear in

the following chapter.

The term itself derives from Latin metaphora, which in turn comes from

Greek μεταφορά, meaning "transference" (Liddell & Scott, A Greek-English Lex-

icon). Metaphor is, according to American cognitive linguist George Lakoff

(2006: 232), a mapping across domains, from a source domain which is usually

very concrete, to a target domain, usually more abstract. There is no direct link

between these domains, no contiguity as we have found in metonymy. Instead,

metaphor is based on perceived similarity between the source and the target.

Its motivation is the desire of human beings to express abstract ideas and

intangible areas of experience in an easily comprehensible manner. Metaphor

accomplishes this through usage of the familiar and concrete (Taylor 2006).

The mapping should not to be seen as an algorithmic process, but rather as

a fixed set of ontological correspondences between entities in a source domain

and entities in a target domain (Lakoff 2006: 194, 233)2. Moreover, the map-

ping is a completely unconscious process (Lakoff 2006: 232), it is asymmetric

and partial in the sense that the mapping cannot be reversed in most cases,

and metaphors do not link every item from the source to items in the target

domain (Lakoff 2006: 232). These mappings happen on a superordinate level

(Lakoff 2006: 195) and obey what Lakoff calls the invariance principle: “Meta-

phorical mappings preserve the cognitive topology (i.e. the image-scheme

structure) of the source domain, in a way consistent with the inherent structure

of the target domain.“ (2006: 199)

2 Many of the following theoretical remarks will become clearer when we turn to concrete examples in the following sections.


Before we turn to gather evidence for polysemy and inference patterns from

three of Barack Obama’s speeches, I want to focus on reasons to use metaphor

in a political speech. On the one hand visionary political speeches usually deal

with highly abstract concepts like society, political and economic systems,

moral values and many other. On the other hand, in order to be successful such

speeches must be vivid, interesting, touching and easily comprehensible to the

audience, no matter what educational background one has. What appears to be

a contradiction can easily be solved by the use of metaphor.

Furthermore, political speeches are often used to persuade rather than just

report, which means that usually a large part of it focuses on the future. But

predictions that are found to be wrong later on are dangerous to the reputation

of the speaker, therefore politicians tend to omit concrete statements and

rather use figures of speech that need to be interpreted. The because interpret-

ation is out of the speakers’ influence, so that they cannot be held accountable

for it.

2.2.2 Conceptual metaphors: example life/history is a journey

Lakoff and Johnson introduced the term ‘conceptual metaphor’ to refer to meta-

phors where both source and target domain are ideas or conceptual domains.

In Obama's speeches, a conceptualization Life / History is a Journey is very fre-

quent. Since these are visionary political speeches, he tries to blur the line

between individual lives on the one side and the common history, present and

future of the people on the other side.

The history of the US is very often described as “the path”(p.26, l.31 & p.27,

l.34) or “our journey”(p.26, l.30; p.27, l.44; p.30, l.151), but Obama also uses

this metaphor for his own campaign: “I want to thank my partner in this

journey”(p.21, l.24). Obama also talks about goals which are conceptualized as

destinations, for example in “route to our common good”(p.28, l.75), or in “to

pursue our individual dreams”(p.19, l.112), where ‘dreams’ seem to be concep-

tualized not as fixed destinations but as moving objects that can be chased

after. The conditions of life are expressed as the characteristics of a path:

American citizens are said to “have carried us up the long, rugged path

towards prosperity and freedom”(p.27, l.34). Another example is “The road


ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep”(p.23, l.66). There may be impedi-

ments on the path representing life/history, as in “your name is no barrier to

success”(p.16, l.21). Information about the mode of travel have their own

implications: “My chief strategist David Axelrod …who's been a partner with me

every step of the way” implies not only that Axelrod accompanied Obama all

the time (or at least in vital moments for the campaign), but also that Mr

Obama sees his campaign as a sequence of small goals. We can also imagine

other individuals travelling alongside oneself and showing the way. Thus,

“acting according to certain principles” can be coded as being “guided by

these principles”(p.28, l.97). Furthermore, in the logic of the metaphor Life /

History Is a Journey it is only natural to conceptualize time as distance: “how

far we have traveled”(p.30, l.140). Retrospection, as in the last example, can

be expressed just as well as looking towards the future: “This is the journey we

continue today”(p.27, l.44). Sometimes you only have a limited idea about the

future, which can become clearer in a political speech by making the future vis-

ible: “The road that unfolds before us”(p.29, l.113). In this metaphor, all Amer-

icans are travelling together ― apart from those dead, which can also be

described in terms of the metaphor: Talking about his dead parents, Barack

Obama stated that “they are both passed away now”(p.16, l.24)3, implicating

that they are out of sight, but may still be travelling elsewhere.

Politics is about shaping the future, and in terms of our conceptual metaphor

this means to shape the landscape which is ahead, allowing Mr Obama to

promise to “provide working families with a road to opportunity”(p.20, l.140).

Finally, the Life / History is a Journey metaphor allows for easily understand-

able, highly figurative utterances like “Let it be said by our children's children

that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not

turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace

upon us […]”(p.30, l.151) Mr Obama focuses heavily on determination and dir-

ectionality of US political action here. His utterance can only be comprehended

via metaphor, because in real life it is actually not possible to “turn back or

falter” since time cannot be stopped and life will continue nonetheless.

3 This metaphor has become a common euphemism since the 13th century (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary).


2.2.3 Conceptual metaphors for other image schemas

Lakoff (1987: 271ff) and Johnson (1987) suggest that many areas of experience

are structured metaphorically by the means of image schemas. The Journey

image schema has just been discussed in the previous section, but there are

more. There is, for example, the proximity and distance image schema, where

spatial relations become projected onto non-spatial domains, as in “alongside

our famous individualism, there's […]”(p.19, l.104) or “we pledge to work

alongside you [other countries]”(p.28, l.108). Moreover, there is the image

schema of linkage and separation, examples of which are “Though passion may

have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.”(p.23, l.92) and “there

are those who are preparing to divide us”(p.19, l.115).

During my analysis I came across a group of examples that I could not

allocate to one of the image schemas as suggested by Lakoff and Johnson,

therefore I propose the new schema alteration of physical state. It refers to

abstract ideas that are conceptualized as physical objects whose state and

appearance can be changed by application of force or use of tools. I created

this category mainly to deal with the concept of sharing, where both the

sharing of positive and negative concepts implies improvement for all: “values

that we all share”(p.23, l.88), “destiny is shared”(p.23, l.97), “My parents

shared not only an improbable love; they shared an abiding faith in the possib-

ilities of this nation”(p.16, l.19). But the following examples also demand to be

categorized as alteration of physical state: “To shape an uncertain

destiny”(p.30, l.134), “We are shaped by every language and culture”(p.28,

l.97) or “mark this day with remembrance”(p.30, l.140) and “our spirit is

stronger and cannot be broken”(p.28, l.94).

The up-down, front-back and part-whole image schemas will be discussed in

greater detail below.

2.2.3.1 The updown image schema

The image schema of up-down orientation deals with spatial orientation within

a gravitational field and has a wide range of applications, some of which shall

now be examined in further detail.

In the example “raise health care's quality and lower its cost”(p.27, l.54),


the first part uses the metaphor GOOD IS UP, BAD IS DOWN in the quality domain

and the latter uses the metaphor MORE IS UP, LESS IS DOWN from the domain of

quantity. Note that the two are related through metonymy: If you stay in the

domain of quantity, you could say that (the amount of) quality is increased ―

now MORE IS UP, LESS IS DOWN can be applied to quality as well. Moreover, there

are examples in the domains of control (POWER IS UP, POWERLESSNESS IS DOWN): “high

office”(p.26, l.8), in activity (MOVEMENT IS UP, REST IS DOWN): “the people will rise up

in November”(p.20, l.48) and in spirituality (SUPERNATURAL IS UP, REAL IS DOWN): “they

[his dead parents] look down on me”(p.16, l.24), whereas I have to admit that

this could also be explained by an image metaphor (see below) from Chris-

tianity, where the deceased go to heaven which is believed to be located in the

‘skies above’. More examples can be found in the domain of severity (SUPERFICIAL

IS UP, PROFOUND IS DOWN): “my deepest gratitude”(p.16, l.3), in importance

(IMPORTANT IS UP, UNIMPORTANT IS DOWN): “But above all, […]”(p.22, l.41), and in evalu-

ation (GOOD IS UP, BAD IS DOWN): “we raise their expectations”(p.17, l.59), “genera-

tion must lower its sights”(p.26, l.19), “America's decline”(p.26, l.18), “we rise

or fall as one nation”(p.23, l.83). These last examples are highly abstract and

their exact meanings are hard to grasp. They are a hypothetical assessment of

a future situation, probably measured against an amalgam of the current eco-

nomic, political and moral state ― only that measuring, or at least determining

if the trend goes ‘up’ or ‘down’ can only be based on sets of figures too limited

for an objective view, so that the use of these highly ambiguous phrases is

bound to be subjective.

The frequent use of image schemas and their similar implementations in dif-

ferent languages led cognitive linguists to believe that these schemas must

have a basis which is common to all human beings, that the schemas must be

rooted in immediate everyday experiences. It is indeed a common experience

of the human body that MOVEMENT IS UP, REST IS DOWN: Just try and sleep while

standing upright, you will fall down to the ground eventually. The same is true

for motion: When you want to cover a longer distance, the position of choice

will be upright, not recumbent. Since the ability to move is closely tied to the

ability of self-defence, POWER IS UP, POWERLESSNESS IS DOWN is also covered. Then,


the combination of the latter two results in GOOD IS UP, BAD IS DOWN: Being able to

move and defend yourself means that your body is in a good condition,

whereas lying on the floor means you are tired, sick or even dead. I do not

want to give an extensive list for each schema here, everyday experiential

basis can be found for every image schema in a similar fashion. Note that in

these explanation attempts, the association is one of metonymy ― “Only when

the relationship is generalized beyond this stereotypical situation one can

speak of metaphor”(Lakoff 2006: 138).

I think with these examples as a basis, Johnson (1987) and Lakoff's (1987)

claim that image schemas are universal pre-linguistic cognitive structures

seems valid.

2.2.3.2 The frontback image schema in the domain of time

To give another example for basic experiences we will now turn to the fact that

the human body has two sides: A front side, where major sensory organs, espe-

cially the eyes are located and in the direction of which a human usually

moves, and a back side, which is more robust but where one is also more vul-

nerable because of lack of vision. The most prominent application of the front-

back image schema is orientation in time, where in combination with the LINEAR

SCALES ARE PATHS metaphor we get FUTURE IS IN FRONT, HISTORY IS BACK.

Time is conceptualized in terms of movement through space, allowing us to

use spatial expressions for discussing matters of time. This is closely related to

the aforementioned conceptual metaphor LIFE/HISTORY IS A JOURNEY, but it is more

general as we shall see shortly. The conceptualisation of time as movement is

central to our thinking, but surprisingly it is understood in two fundamentally

different ways:

2.2.3.2.1 TIME PASSING IS MOTION OVER A LANDSCAPE 4

When time passes, the speaker is continuously moving (with his front side) for-

ward along a one-dimensional path. Our current location on the path represents

4 I personally find Lakoff's term TIME PASSING IS MOTION OVER A LANDSCAPE a bit misleading, because a landscape is hardly ever one-dimensional ― but as there is nothing one-dimensional in our everyday experiences I will keep to his term.


the present, future is in front of us and past lies behind. Events are objects that

lie fixed on this path (Lakoff 2006: 201).

Examples that make reference to the future include: “We intend to move for-

ward [pursue policies]”(p.28, l.67), “we seek a new way forward”(p.29, l.103),

“the task before us”(p.26, l.2), “in the months ahead”(p.21, l.23), “there are

better days ahead”(p.20, l.141), and “the task that lies ahead”(p.22, l.56).

When Mr Obama regards the past he also uses the front-back image

schema: “return to these truths”(p.29, l.128), “resist the temptation to fall

back”(p.23, l.83), “if we go back to the way things were”(p.23, l.77), “a while

back, I met…”(p.18, l.85) and “After the war”(p.16, l.17). Additionally, it is used

for periods of time: “through two decades in the United States Senate”(p.18,

l.71).

2.2.3.2.2 T IME PASSING IS MOTION OF AN OBJECT

In the second approach, the speaker is fixed and the objects (events) move

towards him if they are in the future and move away if they lie in the past, ori-

ented with their front in the direction of travel. The objects just passing him

represent the present, and their movement is continuous and one-dimensional,

too. (Lakoff 2006: 201)

Firstly, evidence for this conceptualization can be found in the frequent use

of ‘face’ for future events: “the challenges that face us”(p.20, l.146), “about

the challenges we face”(p.23, l.71), “let's face it”(p.16, l.7), and “Hope in the

face of difficulty! Hope in the face of uncertainty!”(p.20, l.139) Secondly, in the

examples like “old hatreds shall someday pass”(p.29, l.100) or “that time has

surely passed”(p.27, l.48), “the time has come”(p.26, l.25 & 26) and “he […]

was heading to Iraq the following week”(p.18, l.87), where in the last example,

‘week’ is personalized and seems to move after its predecessor. In another

example, a day is personalized and able to carry other abstract ‘objects’ with it:

“The challenges that tomorrow will bring”(p.22, l.57).

As we have seen in a number of examples, spatial notions are used time and

again to help illustrate and understand intangible, abstract notions. This

inspired Lakoff to say: “It is most interesting that this system of metaphor


seems to give rise to abstract reasoning, which appears to be based on spatial

reasoning.” (Lakoff 2006: 213) This means that there is nothing magical about

abstract reasoning, because it is just a special case of image-based reasoning,

and the true power of our brains lies in the processes of metaphorical map-

pings. This means that teachers and scholars should consciously use meta-

phors and spacial reasoning as part of their methodology.

2.2.4 Novel metaphors

According to Lakoff and Turner (1989), there are three types of novel meta-

phors:

1. Image metaphors

2. Generic-level metaphors

3. Extension of a conceptual metaphor

We will examine the first two in more detail below, but unfortunately I could

not find an example for the third type in Obama's speeches and will therefore

not cover it. As one could expect, novel metaphors are more frequent in literary

works as poetry and prose, where all three types are superimposed on one

another (Lakoff 2006: 217).

2.2.4.1 Image metaphors

Conceptual metaphors, as we have already seen, map conceptual domains

onto another, often containing a large number of metaphorical entailments.

Image metaphors, by contrast, only project a single, conventional mental

image onto another, producing what Lakoff calls a “one-shot metaphor” (Lakoff

2006: 215). Image metaphors are used to illustrate (in the full sense of the

word) a piece of text, or to point out a specific aspect of what has just been

said in a manner easily comprehensible to everybody. The power and persuas-

iveness of image metaphors is the reason why they are used frequently in polit-

ical speeches, and those of Mr Obama form no exception.

Barack Obama uses metaphors from all kinds of donor domains, as for

example farming: “leaders who […] sow conflict”(p.29, l.104), medical terms:

“to heal the divides that have held back our progress”(p.23, l.89), crime ter-


minology: “so we aren't held hostage to the profits of oil companies”(p.18, l.79)

and “every child in America has a decent shot at life”(p.18, l.65), financial

terms: “I owe a debt to all of those who came before me”(p.17, l.30) and “earn

the respect of the world”(p.19, l.99) or the domain of sports: “There will be […]

false starts”(p.23, l.69).

A special case of the latter could be “wrong side of history”(p.29, l.107),

where an image of a team sport (such as football, volleyball or hockey) is

evoked, with every nation assigned to a player in one of the teams. ‘Wrong’

could then stand for the team that loses or for the team that does not have the

support of the audience, where the audience could stand for the population of

the world. Of course, in this oversimplified model of world politics it is question-

able who assigns nations to ‘teams’, who sets the rules of the game and how

the winner is determined.

Further examples can be found in the domain of weather phenomena,

including their real life concomitants: “A new dawn of American

leadership”(p.23, l.97), “I believe that we have a righteous wind at our

backs”(p.20, l.144) and “The words have been spoken during rising tides of

prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken

amidst gathering clouds and raging storms.”(p.26, l.5)

Obama makes use of geological terms to illustrate his ideas: “the ground

has shifted beneath them”(p.27, l.62), “that [hope] is […] the bedrock of this

nation”(p.20, l.140) “the rock of our family [=Michelle Obama]”(p.21, l.28) but

also terms from the domain of construction work: “a new foundation for

growth”(p.27, l.51), “to those who would tear the world down”(p.23, l.98), “to

put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of

a better day”(p.21, l.14), “Our pride is based on a very simple premise”(p.17,

l.33), “and see how we are measuring up to the legacy of our forebears and the

promise of future generations”(p.17, l.44), “he will never […] use faith as a

wedge to divide us.”(p.18, l.82) The use of the source domains of geology and

construction work proves again that source domains are set in everyday experi-

ence, that metaphors use common knowledge as a starting point.

In the domain of traffic, ‘crossroads’ can be used for two different meanings:


First, a place where two or more roads cross each other and where it is possible

to change the direction of travel, implying an increased amount of traffic.

Second, a place where a single road splits up into two, each leading to a dif-

ferent destination. Consequently, the two different definitions allow for two dif-

ferent metaphors respectively: “The great state of Illinois, crossroads of a

nation”(p.16, l.5) and “as we stand on the crossroads of history”(p.20, l.145).

Lakoff and Turner (1989) suggest that all conventional mental images are

structured by the aforementioned image schemas and that image metaphors

preserve image-schematic structure. An example for the part-whole image

schema would be “there's another ingredient in the American saga”(p.19,

l.106). In the domain of cookery, the whole (a final dish) is made up of parts

(the ingredients) ― this is mapped on the parts that make up the whole of the

“American saga”. The part-whole image schema also entails that “separation or

rearrangement of the parts results in the destruction of the whole” (Taylor

2003), which is very true in the domain of cooking: the “American saga” just

would not be the same without that one ingredient, and adding too much of it

could also render it ‘inedible’. Another example of preservation of image

schemas can be found for the schema of containment in the conceptualization

as a room or a house: “the doors of opportunity remain open to all”(p.18, l.66),

“from every end of this Earth”(p.28, l.98) or “forgotten corners of the

world”(p.23, l.96).

Another range of examples is placed in the domain of the human body: “he

[…] was heading to Iraq”(p.18, l.87), “American leadership is at hand”(p.23,

l.97), “we will extend a hand”(p.29, l.107), “[dictators who] cling to

power”(p.29, l.106), “unclench your fist”(p.29, l.107), “I hear your [voters of

McCain] voices”(p.23, l.94), “At a time when women's voices were

silenced”(p.24, l.116) and, closely related to the human body, in the domain of

sensation: “because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segrega-

tion”(p.28 l.98).

A further field with a high number of appearances is the domain of light and

vision. Our eyes are our most important sensory organs because most of our

life is organized around optic information. Lakoff (2006: 227) points out for the


KNOWING IS SEEING metaphor: “Most of what we know comes through vision, and in

the overwhelming majority of cases, if we see something, we know it is true.”

More examples from the domain of light an vision include: “that sees us

through our darkest hours”(p.29, l.123), “do our business in the light of

day”(p.28, l.67), “Those ideals still light the world”(p.28, l.78), “emerged from

that dark chapter”(p.29, l.99), “if America's beacon still burns as bright”(p.24,

l.99), “America, that shone as a beacon of freedom and opportunity to so many

who had come before”(p.16, l.12), “we have a solemn obligation not to […]

shade the truth”(p.19, l.96), “talking about blind optimism”(p.20, l.132), “out of

this long political darkness, a brighter day will come”(p.20, l.151).

To sum up, Obama used the following source domains for his image meta-

phors: ‘farming’, ‘medicine’, ‘finance’, ‘sports’, ‘weather/nature’, ‘geology’,

‘construction’, ‘traffic’, ‘human body’, ‘light & vision’. We can see that some of

these donor domains are part of the immediate experience of our life-world and

the rest is at least omnipresent in US-American culture. It is this proximity to

our own experience that makes these metaphors so easily comprehensible and

effective.

2.2.4.2 Personification

Personification is, according to Lakoff/Turner (1989), a generic-level metaphor.

This is a term coined to denote mappings that preserve causal structure, the

aspectual structure, and the persistence of entities. In short, it means that the

source and the target must have the same overall event shape. This implies

that personification or the metaphor OBJECTS ARE PEOPLE can only be applied when

the generic-level structure of the specific object corresponds with the one of a

human being ― I will look into some of these structures now.

People come into existence by the action of two other people, namely their

mother and their father, and persist for a relatively long time. So if Mr Obama is

of the opinion that General Washington played a large role in bringing the USA

into existence, he can call him the “father of our nation”(p.30, l.143), and refers

to the event of its foundation as “America's birth”(p.30, l.141), because the

event structure of the two concepts is similar. Turner (1987) calls this the

CAUSATION IS PROGENERATION metaphor. An even more complex example is “A


common dream, born of two continents.”(p.16, l.20), where the agents of caus-

ation are personifications themselves, showing us that metaphors can also be

used recursively.

After birth, humans grow older, i.e. the time-span of their existence

increases, which can be measured and compared to other human beings. At

the generic level, this also holds true for nations, leading to metaphors like

“young nation”(p.26, l.25). Since living means existing, we can personify the

abstract noun ‘dreams’ and ask whether “the dream of our founders is

alive”(p.21, l.3). Living also means existing in a specific place, therefore utter-

ances like “my parents’ dreams live on in my two precious daughters”(p.16,

l.28) are possible. However, note that this example violates the rule of simil-

arity in overall event structure proposed by Lakoff to a certain extent: A human

being can only exist in one place, not in two places as the dreams in this

example do. An attempt to explain this deviation from the rule could be that in

the example, the fact of continuing existence is more central to the utterance

than the fact that he has two daughters.

Another feature of human beings is the ability for self-propelled action,

including the ability to change their own behaviour for a long period of time ―

which indeed is not an easy thing to do. The following words by Barack Obama

reflect this: “That's the true genius of America: that America can

change.”(p.24, l.103)

The difficulty about personalizing a nation is that a nation is already made

up of individual human beings, and utterances about this nation could be trans-

ferred onto its constituents, so that the last example could also mean that it is

the true genius of the American people that they can change. This leads to an

ambiguous interpretation of “a tolerant America”(p.16, l.22) and “a generous

America”(p.16, l.24): Are the American people tolerant and generous or is their

foreign policy? Equally ambiguous is the case of perception: “in numbers this

nation has never seen”(p.21, l.5) ― is this a case of personification or is it just

evidence for the collective perception and memory of every individual that is

(or has been) part of this nation? Or what about “America, we have come so

far.”(p.25, l.134) and “But know this, America”(p.26, l.21) ― would it be the


same if Mr Obama addressed “Americans” instead?

I think not. Personalizing a nation and even addressing it with its name is a

way of showing patriotism and pleasing patriotic citizens. This is of paramount

importance for an American presidential candidate since patriotism plays such

a large role in in the USA: A study by World Values Survey revealed that citizens

of the USA rank very high on patriotism; the average answer on the question

“Are you proud to be American?” on a scale from 1 (not proud) to 4 (very

proud) for high income residents in 1999 was 3.72, which is third highest in the

world. For example, the average answer for the same conditions in Germany

was 1.37 (World Values Survey: 1999).

Furthermore, humans have the ability to communicate, which means that if

we personify events, states or groups of people, then they are also able to

communicate. The following examples illustrate the “communicative compet-

ence” of events, groups of people and nation states: “tonight is your

answer”(p.21, l.4), “the answer told by lines that stretched around schools […],

by people who waited […]”(p.21, l.5), “The state of the economy calls for

action”(p.27, l.50), “They [the soldiers] have something to tell us today, just as

the fallen heroes […] whisper through the ages”(p.29, l.114) and “in this elec-

tion, we are called to reaffirm our values and our commitments”(p.17, l.43).

Note that in the last example, which is from the speech delivered at the Demo-

cratic National Convention, passive voice is used, the object is not stated and

‘we’ is not defined in the speech ― it is not clear who is calling, nor who is

called. This fuzzy utterance may well be intentional, because all possible inter-

pretations from different points of view render the sentence to be true: A

member of the democratic party will interpret it as a confirmation that they are

on the right way and a supporter of Obama will probably see it as an argument

in favour of voting for him. An opponent of Obama will also acknowledge that

“in this election, we are called to reaffirm our values and our

commitments”(p.17, l.43), only he would interpret it as an argument in favour

of the republican candidate and point out that Obama’s values and commit-

ments are the wrong ones.


During the course of my studies of the text, I made another interesting

observation. Abstract objects need not be personalized as a single person, they

can also be conceptualized as a group of people, e.g. a family: “and yet still

come together as one American family”(p.19, l.114).

As a last example, I want to look at “this spirit that must inhabit us”(p.29,

l.118). This is a rather interesting case, because ‘spirit’ is not only personalized

but ‘we’ is also de-personalized at the same time. People become conceptual-

ized as inanimate, habitable structures like houses or flats. In the target

domain this means that American citizens are soulless and have no will of their

own; instead, the American people share a single identity. Apart from that, it is

another proof for preservation of image schemas across metaphorical map-

pings, in this case the schema of containment.

We can see that personification is a highly effective tool to convey meaning

and evoke certain emotions about abstract concepts such as a nation. The

necessity for interpretation of a metaphor is central to political speeches, since

the mappings can be constructed in a way that escapes falsifiability.

3. Conclusion

As we have seen in numerous examples, the understanding of any utterance

requires an act of context-sensitive interpretation by the listener/hearer.

Neither metonymy nor metaphor form an exception – both are used constantly

and automatically, with neither effort nor awareness (Lakoff 2006). We could

show that even everyday concepts like time, causation, state, change, purpose

and others are only understood via metaphor. We have also pointed out the rel-

evance and effectiveness of metonymy and metaphor for political speeches in

particular, which is rooted in the operating principles of the two figures of

speech.

I want to close with a last citation by Lakoff (2006, p. 286) that sums up


what this paper has hopefully shown with the help of the speeches of Barack

Obama:

“The locus of metaphor is thought, not language”


4. Appendix

4.1 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address (2004)Thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so

much. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Dick Durbin. You

make us all proud.

On behalf of the great state of Illinois, crossroads of a nation, Land of Lincoln,

let me express my deepest gratitude for the privilege of addressing this con-

vention.

Tonight is a particular honor for me because — let's face it — my presence on

this stage is pretty unlikely. My father was a foreign student, born and raised in

a small village in Kenya. He grew up herding goats, went to school in a tin-roof

shack. His father — my grandfather — was a cook, a domestic servant to the

British.

But my grandfather had larger dreams for his son. Through hard work and per-

severance my father got a scholarship to study in a magical place, America,

that shone as a beacon of freedom and opportunity to so many who had come

before.

While studying here, my father met my mother. She was born in a town on the

other side of the world, in Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs and farms

through most of the Depression. The day after Pearl Harbor, my grandfather

signed up for duty; joined Patton's army, marched across Europe. Back home,

my grandmother raised their baby and went to work on a bomber assembly

line. After the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through FHA,

and later moved west — all the way to Hawaii, in search of opportunity.

And they, too, had big dreams for their daughter. A common dream, born of

two continents.

My parents shared not only an improbable love; they shared an abiding faith in


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the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or

"blessed", believing that in a tolerant America, your name is no barrier to suc-

cess. They imagined me going to the best schools in the land, even though

they weren't rich, because in a generous America, you don't have to be rich to

achieve your potential.

They are both passed away now. And yet, I know that on this night they look

down on me with great pride.

I stand here today, grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my par-

ents’ dreams live on in my two precious daughters. I stand here knowing that

my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those

who came before me, and that in no other country on Earth is my story even

possible.

Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation — not because of the

height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our eco-

nomy. Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration

made over two hundred years ago: "We hold these truths to be self-evident,

that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with

certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of

Happiness."

That is the true genius of America — a faith in simple dreams, an insistence on

small miracles. That we can tuck in our children at night and know that they

are fed and clothed and safe from harm. That we can say what we think, write

what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door. That we can have

an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe. That we can parti-

cipate in the political process without fear of retribution, and that our votes will

be counted — at least, most of the time.*

This year, in this election, we are called to reaffirm our values and our commit-

ments, to hold them against a hard reality and see how we are measuring up to

the legacy of our forebears and the promise of future generations.

And, fellow Americans, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, I say to you

tonight: We have more work to do.

More work to do for the workers I met in Galesburg, Illinois, who are losing their

union jobs at the Maytag plant that's moving to Mexico, and now are having to


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compete with their own children for jobs that pay seven bucks an hour. More to

do for the father that I met who was losing his job and choking back the tears,

wondering how he would pay $4,500 a month for the drugs his son needs

without the health benefits that he counted on. More to do for the young

woman in East St. Louis, and thousands more like her, who has the grades, has

the drive, has the will, but doesn't have the money to go to college.

Now, don't get me wrong. The people I meet — in small towns and big cities, in

diners and office parks — they don't expect government to solve all their prob-

lems. They know they have to work hard to get ahead — and they want to.

Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and people will tell you they don't

want their tax money wasted, by a welfare agency or by the Pentagon.

Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government

alone can't teach our kids to learn — they know that parents have to teach,

that children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the

television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is

acting white. They know those things.

People don't expect government to solve all their problems. But they sense,

deep in their bones, that with just a slight change in priorities, we can make

sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of

opportunity remain open to all.

They know we can do better. And they want that choice.

In this election, we offer that choice. Our party has chosen a man to lead us

who embodies the best this country has to offer. And that man is John Kerry.

John Kerry understands the ideals of community, faith, and service because

they've defined his life. From his heroic service in Vietnam, to his years as a

prosecutor and lieutenant governor, through two decades in the United States

Senate, he has devoted himself to this country. Again and again, we've seen

him make tough choices when easier ones were available.

His values — and his record — affirm what is best in us. John Kerry believes in

an America where hard work is rewarded. So instead of offering tax breaks to

companies shipping jobs overseas, he offers them to companies creating jobs

here at home.

John Kerry believes in an America where all Americans can afford the same


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health coverage our politicians in Washington have for themselves.

John Kerry believes in energy independence, so we aren't held hostage to the

profits of oil companies, or the sabotage of foreign oil fields.

John Kerry believes in the Constitutional freedoms that have made our country

the envy of the world, and he will never sacrifice our basic liberties, nor use

faith as a wedge to divide us.

And John Kerry believes that in a dangerous world, war must be an option

sometimes, but it should never be the first option.

You know, a while back, I met a young man named Seamus in a VFW hall in

East Moline, Illinois. He was a good-looking kid — six-two, six-three, clear-eyed,

with an easy smile. He told me he'd joined the Marines and was heading to Iraq

the following week. And as I listened to him explain why he'd enlisted, the

absolute faith he had in our country and its leaders, his devotion to duty and

service, I thought this young man was all that any of us might hope for in a

child. But then I asked myself: Are we serving Seamus as well as he is serving

us?

I thought of the 900 men and women — sons and daughters, husbands and

wives, friends and neighbors, who won't be returning to their own hometowns. I

thought of the families I've met who were struggling to get by without a loved

one's full income, or whose loved ones had returned with a limb missing or

nerves shattered, but who still lacked long-term health benefits because they

were reservists.

When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn

obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they're

going, to care for their families while they're gone, to tend to the soldiers upon

their return, and to never ever go to war without enough troops to win the war,

secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world.

Now, let me be clear. We have real enemies in the world. These enemies must

be found. They must be pursued. And they must be defeated.

John Kerry knows this. And just as Lieutenant Kerry did not hesitate to risk his

life to protect the men who served with him in Vietnam, President Kerry will not

hesitate one moment to use our military might to keep America safe and

secure.


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John Kerry believes in America. And he knows that it's not enough for just some

of us to prosper. For alongside our famous individualism, there's another

ingredient in the American saga: A belief that we're all connected as one

people.

If there is a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to

me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't

pay for their prescription drugs, and has to choose between medicine and the

rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandparent. If there's an

Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due

process, that threatens my civil liberties.

It is that fundamental belief — I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's

keeper — that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our indi-

vidual dreams and yet still come together as one American family.

E pluribus unum. "Out of many, one."

Now, even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us: the

spin masters, the negative ad peddlers, who embrace the politics of anything

goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conser-

vative America — there is the United States of America. There is not a black

America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America — there's

the United States of America.

The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States;

Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for

them, too: We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like

federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little

League in the Blue States, and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the Red

States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots

who supported the war in Iraq.

We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of

us defending the United States of America.

In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of

cynicism, or do we participate in a politics of hope?

John Kerry calls on us to hope. John Edwards calls on us to hope.

I'm not talking about blind optimism here — the almost willful ignorance that


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thinks unemployment will go away if we just don't think about it, or the health

care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. That's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about something more substantial.

It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs. The hope of

immigrants setting out for distant shores. The hope of a young naval lieutenant

bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta. The hope of a mill worker's son who dares

to defy the odds. The hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that

America has a place for him, too.

Hope! Hope in the face of difficulty! Hope in the face of uncertainty! The auda-

city of hope! In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this

nation. A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.

I believe that we can give our middle class relief and provide working families

with a road to opportunity. I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes

to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from viol-

ence and despair. I believe that we have a righteous wind at our backs and that

as we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices, and

meet the challenges that face us.

America! Tonight, if you feel the same energy that I do, if you feel the same

urgency that I do, if you feel the same passion I do, if you feel the same hope-

fulness that I do — if we do what we must do, then I have no doubts that all

across the country, from Florida to Oregon, from Washington to Maine, the

people will rise up in November, and John Kerry will be sworn in as president,

and John Edwards will be sworn in as vice president, and this country will

reclaim its promise, and out of this long political darkness, a brighter day will

come.

Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. Thank you.


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4.2 Election Night Speech in Chicago (2008)Hello, Chicago.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all

things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in

our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your

answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in

numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and

four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this

time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Repub-

lican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled

and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have

never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue

states.

We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be

cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands

on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day,

in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America [2].

A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from

Senator McCain.

Senator McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even

longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for

America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the ser-

vice rendered by this brave and selfless leader.

I congratulate him; I congratulate Governor Palin for all that they've achieved.

And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the

months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his

heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of


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Scranton … and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice presid-

ent-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my

best friend for the last 16 years … the rock of our family, the love of my life,

the nation's next first lady … Michelle Obama.

Sasha and Malia … I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have

earned the new puppy that's coming with us … to the White House.

And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along

with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my

debt to them is beyond measure.

To my sister Maya, my sister Auma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you

so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.

And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe … the unsung hero of this cam-

paign, who built the best — the best political campaign, I think, in the history of

the United States of America.

To my chief strategist David Axelrod … who's been a partner with me every

step of the way.

To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics … you

made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it

done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to

you. It belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much

money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of

Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of

Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and

women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20

to the cause.[3]

It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their genera-

tion's apathy … who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered

little pay and less sleep.

It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and

scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of


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Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two cen-

turies later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has

not perished from the Earth.

This is your victory.

And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it

for me.

You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For

even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring

are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial

crisis in a century.

Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up

in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.

There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep

and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save

enough for their child's college education.

There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build,

and threats to meet, alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in

one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful

than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get

there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with

every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government

can't solve every problem.

But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen

to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the

work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221

years — block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn

night.

This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to

make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things

were.


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It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sac-

rifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us

resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each

other.

Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we

cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.

In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the

temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity

that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner

of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of

self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.

Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a

great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to

heal the divides that have held back our progress.

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but

friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of

affection.

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won

your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your

president, too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments

and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners

of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new

dawn of American leadership is at hand.

To those — to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To

those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have

wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once

more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms

or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: demo-

cracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be


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perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and

must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations.

But one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in

Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their

voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years

old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on

the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two

reasons — because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America

— the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we

were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American

creed:

Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she

lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach out for the ballot.

Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she

saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of

common purpose.

Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was

there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved.

Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge

in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that we shall over-

come.

Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was

connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her

vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the


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darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much

more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves — if our children should live to see

the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann

Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity

for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim

the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we

are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism

and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that time-

less creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes, we can.

Thank you; God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.


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4.3 Inaugural Address Speech (2009)My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you

have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank Pres-

ident Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and coopera-

tion he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.[1] The words have

been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet,

every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At

these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or

vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful

to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war,

against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly

weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but

also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a

new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health

care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evid-

ence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our

planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measur-

able but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nag-

ging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation

must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and

they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know

this, America — they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have

chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day,

we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the

recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our

politics.


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We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to

set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to

choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea,

passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are

equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of hap-

piness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is

never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts

or settling-for-less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those

who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.

Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some cel-

ebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have car-

ried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across

oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the

whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy

and Khe Sanh. Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed

and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They

saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than

all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous,

powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this

crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less

needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity

remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow

interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed.

Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again

the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy

calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs,

but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the


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electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We

will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise

health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds

and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our

schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All

this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest

that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short.

For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and

women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and

necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them

— that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no

longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too

big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a

decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the

answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs

will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to

account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light

of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people

and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its

power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis

has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control

— and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.

The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our

Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to

extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is

the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety

and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely ima-

gine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter


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expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we

will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and

governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small

village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation

and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and

that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just

with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.

They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us

to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its

prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of

our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we

can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater

cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly

leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old

friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and

roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of

life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their

aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our

spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will

defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are

a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We

are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth;

and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and

emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but

believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall

soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall

reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of

peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and

mutual respect.


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To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their soci-

ety's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can

build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and

deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of his-

tory; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your

farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed

hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say

we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can

we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has

changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble

gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts

and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen

heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.

We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because

they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something

greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment — a moment that will define

a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and

determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the

kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of

workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which

sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a

stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child,

that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be

new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and hon-

esty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism —

these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of

progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these

truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recogni-

tion, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our


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nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize

gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so

defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to

shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and

children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magni-

ficent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not

have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a

most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have

traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band

of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital

was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood.

At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father

of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:[2]

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but

hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one

common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let

us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once

more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our

children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end,

that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon

and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and

delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.


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5. Bibliography

Baer, Dr. J. W., (1992). The Pledge of Allegiance - A Short History. March 25, 2009, http://history.vineyard.net/pledge.htm.

Johnson, M. (1987).The body in the mind: The bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Lakoff, G. (1987). Cognitive models and prototype theory. In U. Neisser (Ed.), Concepts and conceptual development: Ecological and intellectual factors in categorization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lakoff, G. (2006). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In Geeraerts, D. (Ed.), Cognitive Linguistics: Basic Readings (185-237). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Lakoff, G. & Turner, M. (1989) More Than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Liddell, H. G. & Scott, R. (2009). A Greek-English Lexicon, Entry for metaphora retrieved March 24, 2009 from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2367015

Obama, B. (2004). Keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Transcript retrieved March 10, 2009 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19751-2004Jul27.html.

Obama, B. (2008). Election Night Victory / Presidential Acceptance Speech. Transcript retrieved March 10, 2009 from http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/speeches/obama-victory-speech.html.

Obama, B. (2009). Inaugural Address. Transcript retrieved March 10, 2009 from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-obama.html

Taylor, J. R. (2003) Linguistic Categorization: Prototypes in Linguistic Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press .

World Values Survey, Online Data Analysis: Comparison of the sets for United States of America and Germany from 1999, National Identity ― Citizenship ― Question G006. 28.3.2009. http://www.worldvaluessurvey.com.


6. Declaration

I hereby declare that this seminar paper is my own work. No other than the

stated sources have been used. It has not been submitted before for any sem-

inar or examination at any other University.

__________________________

(Alexander Müller)


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