Speeches Flashcards
Berlin, July 2008
Foreign policy
Cairo, June 2009
Obama wants to reconciliate the Western world and the Muslim world by stating their contributions: one cannot live without the other.
- the need to wipe out terrorist networks without compromising our values
- to draw down the troops in Iraq
- Israel and Palestine
- nuclear agreement with Iran
- democracy in Arab countries
- Afghanistan was a “necessary war”
- inspired for the Arab Spring (but not America’s making)
- “I’ve come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition”
Troop increase in Afghanistan, December 2009
- before going onto the stage “They look so young”
- promising that he could “bring this war to a successful conclusion”
- United States Military Academy
Nobel Peace Prize, December 2009
- just a few days after having sent troops to Afghanistan
- “The world as it is”
- not against war in general and justified a “just war”
- non-violence would have been useless with Hitler and negotiations were useless with Al Qaeda
Keynote speech, 2004
- presented his biography as an indisputable source of optimism and patriotic pride
- ideals of freedom and pursuit of happiness
- E Pluribus Unum: “We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and tripes, all of us defending the USA” = belief that the 2 parties could work together for the common good
- “There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America - there’s the United States of America.”
- rising star
Against the Iraq War, 2002
- his opinion was a considerable boost for him in the 2008 primary
- “I don’t oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism. What am I opposed to is a dumb war.”
“A More Perfect Union”, 2008
- Philadelphia
- in reaction to Wright’s sermons
- speech on race
- complicated place of race in American life
- both whites and blacks had some shared responsibilities
- slavery as “this nation’s original sin”
- slavery “brutal heritage” still weighs in the present
- head of State posture
- international success (translations)
Victory speech in Chicago, November 2008
“We have never been a collection of red states and blue states, we are, and always be, the United States of America.”
Inauguration, 2009
“The state of our economy calls for action, bold and swift” // echoed Roosevelt
Cooper Union, March 2008
- idea of unity
- calling bankers to remember that they were all on the same boat and there was “no dividing lines between Wall Street and Main Street”
Selma Speech
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Hiroshima speech
- “the inevitable tragedy of war”
- “It’s ultimately where politics, government, diplomacy has to be rooted. In that moment, in that belief in a common humanity. Without being naive, understanding that the world is a dangerous and difficult place. Without being so idealistic that you don’t protect and preserve America’s core interests.”
United Nations, 2009 On climate (innovation)
“We seek an agreement that will allow all nations to grow and raise living standards without endangering the planet. […] By developing and disseminating clean technology and sharing our know-how, we can help developing nations leap-frog dirty energy technologies and reduce our dangerous emissions.”
United Nations, 2009 On climate (redorer le blason des US)
“It is true that for too many years, mankind has been slow to respond to or even recognize the magnitude of the climate threat. It is true of my own country as well. We recognize that. But this is a new day. It is a new era. And I am pourd to say that the United States has done more to promote clean energy and reduce carbon pollution in the last 8 months than at any other time in our history.”
Prague speech, April 2005
- nuclear weapons
- “the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of nuclear attack has gone up” as “more nations have acquired these weapons”, and “terrorists are determined to buy, build or steal one”
