Romney’s Republican Convention Speech

Although I have a strong dislike for Republicans, I can’t say that Romney’s speaking skill is any worse than Obama’s. It is amusing how both politicians use the same speaking skills and speech elements, but convey hugely different message. Romney says he wants to make your family better, but Obama says he can make the world better. Romney wants to keep America stationary, believing in old-fashioned views like Russian being the American enemy, whereas Obama can bring America forward, supporting new ideas like gay marriage. Here, is my compare and contrast of the speeches by Romney and Obama.

The first thing I am going to address is the personal content, which is a large part of the speech. Romney stresses his upbringing, community, family and church. Almost half his speech is about his wife, then his children, then his community, and then his parents. This is giving what the audience likes to hear. The statistical majority of Republicans are in there middle ages, Christians and are close to their church, family and community. Mentioning these three things is an effective way to relate to a large portion of the audience. In Obama’s speech, he gets down to the politics much faster. The average Democrat is a young and may not even live with the family because of work. This shows how both Obama and Romney make their speeches fit the audience.

Another aspect I’d like to compare is the way that the candidates sell their idea. Romney takes a highly aggressive stance, putting down his opponent’s ideas. If you were to listen to the speech, most of the time he is telling us about what he won’t do, and not what he will. I feel Romney united the audience not by their love of him, but their hate of Obama. On the other hand, even though Obama did attack Romney is his speech, he did not use half his speech do so. Obama focuses on suggesting new ideas and in general, is much more positive. Again this is also catering to the audience, Republicans (who are similar to Conservatives) like the old-fashioned America while Democrats (who likewise, can be compared to Liberals) strive for change.

Despite these differences, the two sides also share some views (albeit, used in converse political directions). Like most Americans, they believe the American people have certain traits, which both Obama and Romney mention in their speeches. The unanimous views are that Americans work hard and stick together. Of course, the similarities stop there. Obama uses this to support new ideas he has (e.g. a hard-working American veteran who risked his life for his country should not have to fight for a job). Whereas, Romney uses it as an excuse to make Obama look amateurish (e.g. why should hard-working Americans have to deal with rising gas prices, which are all Obama’s fault, by the way). I find it intriguing how people can bend facts into their favor like this.