Presidential Rhetoric and the Power of Definition

Abstract

This feature addresses three questions: (1) How do we understand the nature of presidential rhetoric and its effects? (2) What does presidential rhetoric do? (3) How do we know? From the perspective of the humanities, rhetoric is a complex transaction among speakers or writers, texts or performance, audiences, and critics. Effects are better understood as invitations to respond. A key function of presidential rhetoric is to define social reality. Eight case studies explore how presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush have relied on rhetorical definition.

Dissociation In Argumentative Discussions

“…In many internet forums the quote is used to defend the US interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Actually, as Zarefsky (2004) points out, a similar dissociation was already used by President Kennedy in the nineteen sixties to promote his arms control program. An analogous dissociation also was employed by Martin Luther King Jr., in his 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail: 'the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's injunction, all three kinds of indicator can be found.…”

“…It has become clear that in all the realms of its use that we surveyed, dissociation serves to reconstruct the conception of the world of the audience and to do so in particular directions, serving certain interests and promoting certain views. As Zarefsky (2004) notes, dissociation, in imposing a definition of the situation, 'affects what counts a data for or against a proposal, highlights certain elements of the situation for use in arguments and obscures others, influences whether people will notice the situation and how they will handle it, describes causes and identifies remedies, and invites moral judgments about circumstances or individuals'. Consequently, the pragmatic relevance of dissociation cannot be overestimated easily.…”

“…Through dissociation, a new definition of the situation can be imposed. And such a new definition of the situation, as Zarefsky (2004) notes, may create the rhetorical space for action.…”

“…Dissociation is a technique that is applied in a broad range of contexts. Zarefsky (1984Zarefsky ( , 1997Zarefsky ( , 2004 and Schiappa (1985Schiappa ( , 1993Schiappa ( , 2003 have analyzed a great number of dissociations in political debates, from President Reagan who wanted to spread his social safety net only for 'the real needy', to President Bush Senior, who wanted to protect only 'the real wetlands' against expanding industrialization. But also in ethical issues, such as those concerning euthanasia and abortion, these authors showed, dissociations abound.…”

“…In this book, I specifically focus on the use of dissociation in argumentative discussions. In order to do so, I apply the theoretical perspective of Pragma-Dialectics, the argumentation theory, developed by van Eemeren and Grootendorst (1984, 2004 and elaborated by Houtlosser (1997, 2002a,b), that studies argumentation as part of a critical discussion, in which discussants jointly try to solve a difference of opinion.…”