The Presidency

Carllene Brooks
April 24, 2016
Professor Murdaco
Politics



Task: Summarize the lecture at hand



            John F. Kennedy once said " My fellow Americans , ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." This is such a powerful statement because he is asking us as Americans how we can make this country a better place. There are many answers to his general statement. In this lecture we were asked to look at a number of speeches regarding the many different presidents we have had during the recent years.
         To begin with, John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address( 1961), was a speech that was given not to change the way Americans perceive the country; however it was more of a motivational speech in my opinion. He wanted to motivate Americans to come together in order to make this country a better place. He urged us to recognize the damage that was done in the past, and try and find ways to become better and not make the same mistakes.  He opens up his speech by saying that he has asked everyone to join him today so that they can celebrate their freedom as well as a renewal of change. I feel that as President JFK really took the time to understand his country and find ways to improve the many corrupt things that were going on during these times. One close observation I made while reading was how he states that the world is now different; not only that but he also says that man holds power in his own hands and not held in the hands of rate superior.  His speech allowed him to gain the opportunity to introduce his similar vision of government in a clear manner. Throughout his speech he goes on by making valid points and making commitments and promises on how he is going to make this country a better place. One statement he made which resonated with me was how he emphasizes the people who are less fortunate than us. These people live in huts and villages, we as a nation as well as individuals  should help them help themselves. His concept on running an efficient nation/ country is how we can come together and try to find ways to help people in poverty. We shouldn't just turn our backs on them and have them suffer; if we have the tools and necessities to help them, then we should do so. JFK isn't saying this to get press or more votes or more supporters, he is saying this because its the right thing to do.
      Meanwhile,  in both Ronald Reagan's State of the Union and his 1st Inaugural Address he emphasizes America's past mistakes and how in today's society we should work on ways to not repeat history. In his 1st speech, he really elaborates on the issues America faced in it's past. For example: inflation. tax issues, and the government's overspending problems. Reagan argued that the government, ( isn't the solution) to the problems America has faced during these times. Not only does Reagan address the faults that the government is facing, he strongly believes that the government must work alongside and not over the very people who gave them power in order to restore America to its original greatness.  Whereas in the State of the Union speech, he kind of piggyback's off of the same ideas he made during his 1st address. The address elaborates on the conditions of our nation, as well as allow the President to outline his legislative agenda. The main idea of this speech was to bring awareness to the rules in Article II, section 3 of the U.S. Constitution. This requires the President to periodically give Congress information on the " State of the Union".
     Lastly, our most recent President Barack Obama, has made a handful of speeches to our nation. Most of his speeches are aimed to talk about the issues we are facing today ( like many of our Presidents).  The two speeches that caught my attention were his "Speech on Race; A More Perfect Union". and his 2008 Inaugural Speech. Prior to reading his Speech on Race; I used my context clues and hypothesized that the main idea of his speech was to find ways on how we as a country can come together and form the " perfect union".  The main purpose of his speech was to address the issues of racial tensions, white privileged and the race and inequality that seems to be persistent throughout the United States.  One point that he made in his speech was " black anger" and " white resentment". This probably means that Blacks are angry that we are still being treated as the minority and that we are looked at as the lesser value. Whereas the whites resent the blacks who actually make something out of themselves as well as prove statistics wrong. One important thing to note is that he highlighted the tension between the concept of equal citizenship and freedom expressed in the Constitution. He briefly touched on the history of slavery and connected both the Civil War and Civil Rights Movement into his own personal goals in his campaign. Lastly another point I would like to touch on is how he spoke about the comments made by his former pastor; Jeremiah Wright. Even though he and Obama have a personal relationship, Obama does not support his wrong doings and he does make his audience aware that what Wright said was wrong and how he offended both the white and black communities.  Furthermore, in Obama's Inaugural Speech, his main points addressed same sex marriage as well as climate change. By Obama speaking on same sex marriage it really opened a lot of doors because no other Presidential candidate soon to be President has even thought of speaking on this issue.