Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Obama E-mail Analysis

        The email addressed to Ms. Jarmer from President Barack Obama is nothing more than an attempt to raise money for the upcoming elections this November.  However, upon closer inspection of the fundraiser attempt, it can be noted that the type of speech is much different than one would expect to see in an email from the offices of a United States President.  The use of words like "Hey" and "Friend" really exemplifies that the author of this letter intended for this letter to be quite informal, potentially in order to foster a sense of friendliness between the reader and the President.  This informality is somewhat of a double-edged sword, though.  Due to the fact that most people would expect an email from the President to be extraordinarily formal and might believe an informal email to be sent from someone impersonating the President. The author, in what feels like a very abrasive manner, assumes the reader knows what they mean when they talk about some deadline.  While the email was keep short and to-the-point, it left out details that the reader might need to know in order to donate money to.  There is a link given for the reader to click on and find out about this deadline and what the money is going towards but the author should have at least gave some explanation besides saying a deadline matters.  What is the deadline? Why is there a deadline? Why does it matter? All these questions would have been rendered unnecessary had the author explained what it was all about.  The author themselves is another odd point about this email, albeit an expected one.

        Barack Obama is supposed to have written this email.  Although the target audience are more than likely to be privy to the extreme possibility that it was, in fact, not Barack Obama himself that wrote the email but someone who works for the President.  The target audience being English-speaking, United States citizens-moms, dads, teachers, and everyone else.  The signature at the end of the letter can be interpreted as another friendly attempt at informality, as previously noted.  This is due to the fact that not only is the signature only "Barack", omitting the President's last name, but the uncommon line before that of "To 2012."  This phrase is probably meant to simulate a similar action of a toast, where the parties involved often hit their drink glasses together.  This, coupled with the other oddities and omissions of this letter, make it quite an odd document, and one that would probably not be expected to be from a President.

Matthew S.
(436 words)

1 comment:

  1. I agree with your post for the most part Matthew; however I have somewhat different reasoning. I agree that the informal approach was used to create a friendly persona for the reader. I also agree that it is a double-edged sword. Most may see this as a friendly attempt to raise funds, but an upper class donor may expect a formal email with more details, and likely won’t donate to a man or woman who fails to meet that formal expectation. I agree in your questioning of the identity of the author, and I agree with your questioning of the deadline. However, my reasoning is different in relation to your idea that it is not an expected email from the President of the United States. I think that it shouldn’t be expected, but not because it is informal. I think it shouldn’t be expected because the target audience wouldn’t be willing to donate without good reasoning, even if the proceeds go to a candidate whom they support. The saying, “About the deadline: it’s important,” fails to reach the average person enough for them to be willing to donate. Regardless of my reasoning, I think you did a good job. Keep writing well!

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