ELECIONS 2008

ELECIONS 2008

I am going to compare Barack Obama and Walter Veltroni’s communication style. Both of them are on the right but they work in a very different political system and context.
Of course my observations cannot be neutral for two reasons: as a non-American person I'm following American elections with curiosity and a sort of enthusiasm; as an Italian, since I know the political situation of my country, I'm following the campaign in a rather skeptical and disillusioned way.
Let’s star talking about Barack Obama.

As everybody knows, Senator Obama is a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the U.S. presidential election scheduled for November 4, 2008. He is a Washington outsider and, as such, he is a new figure. As someone said here in Italy, he represents the American melting-pot because he is too black to be a white man, but too white to be a black man: he could well represent America .

Watching some videos on the web, I have found some of those elements which makes so effective his speeches. Some of his most famous and very recognizable slogans, above “yes, you can”, are “this campaign is about you”, “our time for change has come”, “I will a president who will not just say what you want to hear but what you need to know” or “change does not happen from the top down, it happens from the bottom up”. These are only some of the refrains I’ve caught but I think they are enough in order to convey the impression that his campaign is about the voters, oriented to the change without dividing America (“red America against blue America”).
Analyzing his speeches I have found that he uses some very simple devices. For example, he uses:
- figures of speech such as anaphora, that is the repetition of the same word or expression at the beginning of successive clauses (e.g. “you are choosing unity over division; you are choosing hope over fear; you are choosing…”); epistrophe, that is, the repetition of the same word or expression at the end of successive clauses (over all, “…yes, we can”);

- he uses words which succeed in creating collective symbolic imagines in people’s mind;
- he uses simple words to be as clear as possible (in particular in order to communicate with those who are not very educated): it seems he wants to give simple answers to complex political questions;
- his communication is very straightforward and forceful.

Regarding this last point, it is important to notice that in order to maintain his audience’s attention during his speeches, he varies the speed at which he speaks, he varies the volume emphasizing key-words such us “Americans”, “hope, “change”…Finally, he uses pauses very well, placed at the right moment making what he says really impressive.

An other important point in his campaign is the idea of a “new American dream”: also his last book titled “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” he wrote “…we’ll need to remind ourselves, despite all our differences, just how much we share: common hopes, common dreams, a bond that will not break.”.
The last thing I want to point out is that the American band Black eye peas has written a song using some of Obama’s most impressive clauses: I think it is a further way to make Senator Obama’s messages reach young people.


In Italy, Mr. Walter Veltroni, mayor of Rome, is running for the Prime Minister election scheduled for April 13-14, 2008. He is considered one of the most popular centre-left politicians in Italy and he is the leader of the Democratic Party. He is a relatively young face in Italian politics.

He found out the slogan of his campaign without great difficult: he translated the American “yes, we can” into Italian.

His is rather ambiguous both in his political contents and in his communication: he is too clearly searching for Italians’ consensus, he is too clearly trying to be liked by people with the result that his speeches are not very impressive and convincing.
Among his most famous slogans, I’ve noticed “in reality, we dream of the same things”, “we must not be afraid of what is new. Future is the only time toward which we can go”. It is also famous his expression “but also” when he tries to mediate and reconcile opposite things.
He uses the pronoun “we” when he talks about his party, staff and supporters; he uses a very general “they” when he talks about his opponents in order to not vilify them and to maintain a relaxed atmosphere.
His way of speaking is placid: he doesn’t chance very much tone, speed and volume (sometimes I have the impression to listen to a speaker of a documentary film…I mean, to listen to Piero Angela!!). His way of dressing is sober and what I think it’s really appreciable is that he doesn’t want to look younger than he is.

He travels throughout Italy by bus (an ecological bus) in order to give the imagine of a politician who lives between ordinary people, who is not far from everyday problems. He also decided as soundtrack of his campaign the song by the Italian singer Jovanotti titled “mi fido di te” (“I believe in you”)…I have no enough words to express my opinion on these improbable choices…
Anyway, Mr. Veltroni is with no doubt a very educated persons but unfortunately in his speeches he tends to be bit too philosophical and to use too many metaphors.
The messages he gives are very similar to (or copied from) those given by Obama: change, hope, a new way of thinking politics, optimism....

The two campaign share some aspects but they are also different, in particular in the use of technology. Obama is a candidate who has integrated the web into his communication (see e.g. websites, forums, blogs, Youtube…): in this way many young people follow him on their own computer for themselves.
In Italy we are not yet ready for this kind of communication innovation: we still watch too much television and only in the last five-six years parties and leaders have had their own websites . I think it is due to a cultural factor: only in recent time we have started to be a little more computer-oriented.