Political Language

Political language is such an important idea to understand when listening to a potential candidate, or any political figure for that matter. Everyone’s language within the political realm varies, just as Jeb Bush’s does. Recently Jeb spoke to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs about his outlook on foreign policy. The video is rather lengthy, so I tried to focus on the first part of his speech so I could analyze it more closely. Within the first minute or so he tried to bring some humor to everyone, which I believe was to try to lighten the mood before he fully dived into the major topic of foreign policy.

http://www.c-span.org/video/?324419-1/former-governor-jeb-bush-rfl-address-chicago

            If you watch the video you will clearly see that he does not agree with the way that Obama has handled the issue of foreign policy. The way Jeb goes about saying that Obama’s administration is faulty though is in a respectful manner, while still getting his point across to the audience through his political language. I believe that within this speech Jeb Bush made good use of persuasion, but he was able to fulfill that because of the evidence he had to support what he was saying. Such as him explaining that he has lived outside of the United States and makes a point to travel to other countries to better understand the dynamic in other foreign locations, which clearly shows he knows what he is talking about. I do think though that he could have been more successful with his speech because although he had all of the thoughts and ideas there, he still needs to work on how he delivers it, that way his political language can be more effective.  

            Although this speech was based around foreign policy, if I am “reading between the lines”, I believe that he was also trying to touch on more than just the foreign policy issue. He attempted to touch on education and even immigration, which those two are some of the main issues I see him focusing on in 2016. I thought it was also great that he made the statement of, “I am my own man”, after explaining that he admires what his family has done previous to now. Jeb was explicating talking about foreign policy, but I believe he was also trying to show what he would do differently if he were president, while still being his own person under the Bush name. Through his political language he came off as very relatable to the audience at one point when he hinted toward the fact that at one point in his life he struggled with providing for his family, which many today have the same difficulties. All in all, he really focused on diverse things whether they were explicitly or implicitly stated, which enhanced the experience of his political language in his speech.