Week #4 Question #2

2). Consider a well-known speaker, for example, the current President of the United States (or Presidential candidate). What is this speaker's strongest characteristics as a speaker? Is it credibility, attractiveness, power, or all three? In what ways could the speaker build ethos in these areas?

The strong points of the current Democratic Presidential candidate, Barrack Obama, are one of the most hotly debated issues in popular news media today. For 25+ years we have heard of John McCain being a war hero, a maverick, one of the greatest Arizona senators ever and most importantly: experienced. These are all great things to contest with when the majority of Americans do not research candidates and take most of what they hear as truth (a major problem with this year's campaign as nearly every public statement made by McCain and his running mate are strewn with misinformation and flat out lies). Despite all of this I believe Barrack Obama's strongest characteristics lie with his credibility and the attractiveness of his message.
We have all heard that the big issue this campaign is change. Barrack Obama championed this theme during the Democratic primary and into the national race. He clearly believes that the working system in Washington is broken and the American people pay for it year after year while those in government are more interested in holding power than insuring that government power is working. This core statement has made Barrack Obama's message very appealing/attractive to the voting masses as the majority of Americans (regardless of party affiliation) do feel the everyday workings of Washington need to be changed. This then caused Republican nominee John McCain to switch around his core running issues to match the national desire for change. Here we run into the issue of a speakers credibility. I believe Barrack Obama is extremely credible when it comes to the issue of changing the Washington system as he presents ideas and plans which have never been implemented before. McCain, on the other hand, who first claimed he was the best Presidential candidate based on his 25 years of senatorial experience and that he would be able to hit the floor of the Oval Office running now claims that based upon those same 25 years of experience he is the best candidate to evoke change because, in the past, he has been a "maverick" (I ask you this...does voting for the right and honorable thing, despite your own party taking a clearly racist and elitist stance against it, make you a "maverick" or make you just a normal senator doing his job while being surrounded by district elected snakes? After all...lets not forget that senator Strom Thurmond was considered to be a maverick too due to his beliefs and political attempts to keep racial segregation lines drawn). This current statement, when viewed in to context of John McCain's career and previous statements, is clearly an oxymoron but apparently the vast majority of Americans just don't get it. This, to me, makes John McCain HIGHLY not credible(along with his attempt to sway Clinton voters with a self-proclaimed "redneck hockey mom" with no real government experience at all who, according to McCain, has kept Russian invaders out of Alaska...Alaska people. That and I'm pretty sure Russia would not risk massive military/nuclear retaliation over Alaska...but apparently that's just me and John McCain is still living in the Kennedy-Reagan Cold War era).
I believe Obama's current stance of not participating in the old Washington way of smear/attack ads (which John McCain seems more than happy to pump millions of dollars into) clearly shows an extremely good quality of ethos which in turn make his statements that more credible. I honestly think the only thing that Obama could do to boost his ethos would be to openly challenge John McCain to a series of presidential debates in various areas of the country (both blue and red states/industrial and agricultural states). If McCain accepts then Obama has a real chance to make McCain look like an old fool in his own territory and really swing the vote his way. If McCain denies the challenge then Obama can then truthfully and factually state that his opponent, John McCain, is afraid of confronting important issues vital to the American nation and government and there for can not be trusted in the White House to act in the best interest of the country. As it is, I would argue that Barrack Obama has the highest degree of ethos in any presidential candidate that I have ever witnessed/heard in my 25 years of life.
On a side note, when it comes to the notions of credibility, attractiveness of message, and power the current two party system in the United States leaves quite a bit to be desired and offers no real opportunity for those with real ground breaking ideas to enact change. Often times the only difference between a Republican and a Democrat is the color of their tie...