Barrack's "Shout-Out" to Patriotic Librarians

Obama's speech called, “Literacy and Education in a 21st Century Economy,” was given to the American Library Association (ALA)—a crowd of librarians—and I’m especially curious about what emotional appeals that Obama utilized, since the words “emotional” and “librarian” aren’t generally used in the same sentence.

I’m sure Obama (and/or his speech writers) were thinking, what makes librarians tick? Well, uh, books, libraries, reading. What is valuable to librarians? Giving people (oftentimes children) access to books. What would really tick off a librarian? Not being allowed to put valuable books into the hands of library patrons; illiteracy. Clearly, based on the speech that Obama delivered, all of these contextual ideas have been utilized in order to create the appropriate emotional climate for Barrack to impart his ideas.

First of all, Obama demonstrates the many connections that he has to librarians; he’s proving just how close he is to the audience, how much the same they are. Obama gives “shout-outs” (yes, he really said that) to ALA member, Nancy Gibbs, the mother of his communications director, Robert Gibbs. He also, touchingly, addresses the librarians from his Punahou School in Hawaii: Molly Lyman, Joan Kaaua, and Lillian Hiratani. These personal references, each one named, give Obama a lot of situational credibility: he’s enhanced his ethos with the crowd by proving how many librarians he is personally close with.

After establishing some ethos, and getting the crowd on his side—or at least closer to his side, Obama begins to lighten the mood. As I mentioned before, librarians aren’t generally considered to be the most emotional of creatures, so he needs to tap into this preconception. He makes a joke about his communications director: “Believe me, I have no idea how the biggest mouth in our office came from a family of librarians…” Now, these librarians feel close to Obama (ethos), they have just shared a little laugh (pathos), and now Obama leads them further into his speech (which is still laced with pathos).

Obama’s style gets rather formal and “high” as he describes how libraries are “more than a building that houses books and data, the library has always been a window to the larger world—a place where we’ve always come to discover big ideas and profound concepts that help move the American story forward…[and] at a time where truth and science are constantly being challenged by political agendas and ideologies…the moment we persuade a child, any child, to cross that threshold into a library we’ve changed their lives forever, and for the better.” Wow: this passage is both logical and emotionally charged. It’s got the librarians feeling a mixture of pride and a little bit of frustration about the government.

With his audience feeling the effects of this powerful mixture of emotions, Obama continues, “So I'm here to gratefully acknowledge the importance of libraries and the work you do. I also want to work with you to insure that libraries continue to be sanctuaries for learning, where we are free to read and consider what we please, without the fear of Big Brother peering menacingly over our shoulders.” Oh, snap! Let’s recap: I want to work with you. Where we are free to read. Big Brother peering menacingly over our shoulders. Apparently, now Barrack and the librarians are BFFs united against overbearing government control.

Barrack applauds librarians (using war imagery) for being “the ones who've been on the frontlines of this fight for privacy and freedom…ever since we've had to worry about our own government looking over our shoulders in the library, you've been there to stand up and speak out on privacy issues. You're full-time defenders of the most fundamental American liberties, and for that, you deserve America's deepest gratitude.” Obama continues to speak to his audience: about the issues they care about—and in a way that is very complimentary to them. I think that Obama’s subtle use of the language of war is really effective; it creates a (probably subconscious) mental bridge between the Iraq war and being patriotic in that sense and opposition to a “Patriot Act” that disregards civil liberties. One can be a patriot in either sense.

This analysis covers just the opening of the speech. Barrack is really opening up his rhetorical toolbox to make certain that he’s using all of the available means of persuasion and working the pathos of this audience most effectively. He wants them to be primed for the rest of the speech, which I will examine in the next blog.