Obama's Speech

At first Obama stated what was wrong with the country, and what tragedies have occurred in the past. He reminded the citizens of the problems that they have to endure. Then, after lowering the moral of the citizens, he gave them a bit of hope. Obama tells the citizens that due to his referendums and acts, the economy will bust itself back up again. Frederick Douglass also used this method in order to boost the moral of the people and get them to act. In his Fourth of July speech he first lowered the moral of the black community. Then similarly he gave the people hope for the future. Frederick Douglass said that slavery will surely fall. He assumes that the "Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of our globe." This intelligence is the knowledge of the terrible conditions that slaves were treated. Douglass believes that since the U.S. now does not want other countries to know about how terrible they treat blacks they will be pressured into abolishing slavery by the bad reputation they would get from other nations. This ultimately was his hope that he gave the blacks. It was a not necessarily 100% going to happen though, Frederick Douglass got lucky. However, Obama might not. He could be giving citizens false hope. He made assumptions on the future of the programs he is putting in place. He said that they will fix the economy and give the people more jobs. But what if it does not fix the economy? Maybe Obama is giving us false hope.