The Figure of Reason in Barack Obama’s West Point Address on War in Afghanistan, December 1, 2009

• In Event: The Trajectories of Obama's Rhetoric during the First Year of his Presidency: Studies of Six Speeches

Abstract

The President’s rhetorical stance on the question of war in Afghanistan featured the voice of reason and due diligence which, in context, restored the legitimacy of continued military engagement by realigning militarism with an ethos of reluctant belligerence and an ethic of just war. With this semblance of cool reason, understood as a rhetorical figure, Obama’s discourse operated strategically to characterize selectively addressed tactical issues as if they constituted a comprehensive review and revision of U.S. policy, thereby displacing basic questions of efficacy and morality about an ongoing war on terrorism and rendering them moot.

Author

• Robert Ivie, Indiana University