During this speech, President Obama addresses the assembly regarding recent attacks on U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya. In particular he goes into the detail of one of the diplomats who was killed during this attack, U.S Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Obama also talks about the viral video that ultimately caused the attack, Innocence of Muslims, as well as the morals issue surrounding it. I personally find this video, which you can find on YouTube, incredibly disgusting and certainly not one of America’s better sides. He also addresses another controversial subject brought to light by the video, Internet censorship and freedom of speech. Regarding his speech itself, I find a few things very interesting.
The first thing that I thing I take note of, is this completely different side of the President. During his re-election speech at the DNC, he was relaxed and spoke about his personal life whereas here, he has his game face on. Even his tone of voice is different; he uses a firm, powerful voice that clearly means business. I find it remarkable how much he can change to fit the audience. Most potential voters were people who had families for the DNC, but here, the audience is a group of politicians and ambassadors who just want to get to the point. He is much more concise with his speech than before, and speaks more professionally. This shows even how a speaker presents a speech and the tone of his/her voice can be changed to fit the audience.
Another aspect of this video that we could potentially learn from is how Obama thought about diplomacy and international relations in every line he spoke. For example, he makes sure that he apologizes about the video but still stands up for freedom of speech. As a prominent public figure, the president needs to balance on the thin line between offending people and not stating his point with enough power. In this context, Obama needed to emphasize that this video was not acceptable to keep the people who protest this videos happy, yet still protect the rights of the people and get his point across. This can be applied public speech in our lives, especially when debating over a controversial subject. Some people don’t sell their ideas with enough conviction, yet still, some people are too aggressive with their wording and end up offending one group of people or another. To conclude, it is important to think about how the audience will react to your speech.
Lastly, I would like to reinforce the point I made in an earlier review about personal content in speeches, specifically how it appears in most good speeches. This is the perfect example. Even though he doesn’t talk about his own personal experiences, because it would not work in this professional environment, he doesn’t take out the personal aspect of the speech. Here, Obama uses the personal life of Christopher Stevens, going into very personal details about him (like his place of birth, and even eventually calling him “Chris”), to connect to the audience. This is an effective way to create a mournful atmosphere. Instead of simply saying that three men were killed (including two of Stevens’ colleagues), Obama uses the personal aspect to make the audience understand that the life of successful, unique man was lost, and rather than just giving a casualty report. Marilyn Manson, a controversial heavy metal artist (who I happen to be a fan of), once said, “The death of one is a tragedy, but the death of many is just a statistic”. I believe this quotes captures my point perfectly. To reiterate my point, personal stories help a speech feel intimate.
Overall, this speech is a good example of three important things to keep in mind while speaking publically. Firstly, your tone of voice should fit the situation and audience. Secondly, you should try to predict your audience’s reaction. Lastly, personal stories are a good to have in a speech.
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