45 research outputs found
The Digital Form of a Weekend Routine: A Research Note on the Weekly Presidential Address
Barack Obama broke a presidential tradition on January 24, 2009. After almost three decades on the radio, he delivered the Saturday presidential address visually on the White House website and YouTube page. The medium transition presents an opportunity to examine the addressâs evolving form as a genre of presidential rhetoric. I expand upon my recent analysis of the weekly address by examining the structure, online layout, and presidential image in the digital medium and how the salient functions of the genre are highlighted compared to its predecessor addresses on radio. I find the addressâs digital form highlights the temporality of each pronouncement while strengthening its essential generic functions
The Digital Form of a Weekend Routine: A Research Note on the Weekly Presidential Address
Barack Obama broke a presidential tradition on January 24, 2009. After almost three decades on the radio, he delivered the Saturday presidential address visually on the White House website and YouTube page. The medium transition presents an opportunity to examine the addressâs evolving form as a genre of presidential rhetoric. I expand upon my recent analysis of the weekly address by examining the structure, online layout, and presidential image in the digital medium and how the salient functions of the genre are highlighted compared to its predecessor addresses on radio. I find the addressâs digital form highlights the temporality of each pronouncement while strengthening its essential generic functions
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Presidential prediction : the strategic construction and influence of expectation frames
textServing as the national soothsayer for citizens and political elites alike, the President of the United States looks to and predicts the future. When presidents try to gain influence today, they predict tomorrow. Expectations, or future-oriented statements made by the president, are a prominent attribute of presidential communication. This dissertation engages âfuture talkâ by examining how presidents construct expectation frames as well as how the public reacts to presidential discussions about the future. I answer two main questions in this research. First, how often and under what circumstances do presidents construct expectations? Second, how do expectations affect the citizens who encounter them? I employed a multi-methodological approach to analyze the content and effects of expectation frames. First, I content analyzed a sample of State of the Union addresses and signing statements from the presidencies of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, as well as a sample of tweets from the White House Twitter feed in the Obama administration. The analytic approach captured patterns of expectation emphasis and de-emphasis within a communication as well as accounted for variation across presidential communications due to external political and communicative factors. Second, I conducted a between-subjects experiment to test the effects of expectation frames on individuals. I examined how the type of expectation frame influences perceptions about the future and the president. This research uncovers that presidents strategically construct expectations and can influence how individuals think about the future. Presidents engage in deliberate actions to target the settings where expectations are framed, the agents responsible for the future, and the policies associated with tomorrow. In turn, citizens attend to how presidents frame the future and are influenced as a result of encountering future frames. The results of this dissertation illuminate critical facets of presidential communicative leadership of public opinion as well as elite influence within government. The presidentâs prominence in American life should force our attention to how the chief executive divines and shapes the future for citizens and intergovernmental agents.Communication Studie
Selling War, Selling Hope: Presidential Rhetoric, the News Media, and U.S. Foreign Policy since 9/11. By Anthony R.DiMaggio. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2015. 432 pp.
Book review of Selling War, Selling Hope: Presidential Rhetoric, the News Media, and U.S. Foreign Policy since 9/11 by Anthony R.DiMaggio. Selling War, Selling Hope: Presidential Rhetoric, the News Media, and U.S. Foreign Policy since 9/11. By Anthony R.DiMaggio
Shaping Economic Reality: A Critical Metaphor Analysis of President Barack Obamaâs Economic Language During His First 100 Days
This paper analyzes President Barack Obamaâs economic language during the first 100 days of his administration. Having assumed office during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Mr. Obama moved quickly to articulate the nature of the recession to the American people. The research illustrates how President Obama metaphorically reframes the role of government to âperfectâ inadequacies in the health, stability, and direction of the economy. Within Charteris-Blackâs Critical Metaphor Analytic approach, eight major presidential addresses from Barack Obamaâs âhoneymoon periodâ were analyzed. This critical approach seeks to reveal covert (and unconscious) intentions through identification of metaphors, interpretation of the conceptual metaphors, and explanation of possible intentions through the interrelation of rival metaphors. Three dominant metaphoric constructions were identified in the data: embodiment/health, foundation/building, and journey/traveling metaphors. These reveal three basic conceptual metaphors Obama applies to the economy: a sick person, an unstable building, and a difficult journey. By mapping these source domains onto his linguistic target â the economy â the president characterizes the crisis, describes his policy initiatives, and details the recessionâs duration
A Weekend Routine: The Functions of the Weekly Presidential Address from Clinton to Obama
Ritualized presidential rhetoric including inaugurals, state of the unions, and farewell addresses has received a wealth of research attention. While vital to the rhetorical presidency, more routine communications that convey the âtick tockâ of everyday presidential actions have gone largely unnoticed in the scholarly literature. This article focuses on the central area of routine presidential communication: the weekly address. Thirty speeches from the first year of President Clinton, Bush, and Obamaâs administrations are analyzed to understand the functions of the addressâs routine use. The findings reveal that ideologically disparate presidents approach the weekly routine with a temporal focus that sermonizes to the nation, projects the power of the presidency, and insulates the institution from legislative inaction
A Weekend Routine: The Functions of the Weekly Presidential Address from Clinton to Obama
Ritualized presidential rhetoric including inaugurals, state of the unions, and farewell addresses has received a wealth of research attention. While vital to the rhetorical presidency, more routine communications that convey the âtick tockâ of everyday presidential actions have gone largely unnoticed in the scholarly literature. This article focuses on the central area of routine presidential communication: the weekly address. Thirty speeches from the first year of President Clinton, Bush, and Obamaâs administrations are analyzed to understand the functions of the addressâs routine use. The findings reveal that ideologically disparate presidents approach the weekly routine with a temporal focus that sermonizes to the nation, projects the power of the presidency, and insulates the institution from legislative inaction
\u3ci\u3eThe Presidential Expectations Gap: Public Attitudes Concerning the Presidency\u3c/i\u3e, by Richard Waterman, Carol L. Silva, and Hank Jenkins-Smith
Book review of The Presidential Expectations Gap: Public Attitudes Concerning the Presidency by Richard Waterman, Carol L. Silva, and Hank Jenkins-Smith