Politics+and+the+English+Language


 * Group: Christi Cole, Efe Nesiama, Cambria Henderson**

Dying Metaphors -1970-2000 Meaningless Words- anytime not from the US Pretentious Diction -1950-1970 =Meaningless Words in the Modern Political Language = Margaret Thatcher Iron Lady Speech

The first duty of any Government is to safeguard its people against external aggression. To guarantee the survival of our way of life. The question we must now ask ourselves is whether the present Government is fulfilling that duty. It is dismantling our defences at a moment when the strategic threat to Britain and her allies from an expansionist  power is graver than at any moment since the end of the last war. Military men are always warning us that the strategic balance is tilting against NATO and the west. But the Socialists never listen. [fo 1]  Beginning of section checked against BBC Radio News Report 2200 19 January 1976 They don't seem to realise that the submarines and missiles that the Russians are building could be destined to be used against us. Perhaps some people in the Labour Party think we are on the same side as the Russians! But just let's look at what the Russians are doing. She's ruled by a dictatorship of patient, far-sighted determined men who are rapidly making their country the foremost naval and military power in the world. End of section checked against BBC Radio News Report 2200 19 January 1976. They are not doing this solely for the sake of self-defence. [fo 2] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A huge, largely land-locked country like Russia does not need to build the most powerful navy in the world just to guard its own frontiers. No. The Russians are bent on world <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">dominance <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, and they are rapidly acquiring the means to become the most powerful <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">imperial <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">nation the world has seen. The men in the Soviet politburo don't have to worry about the ebb and flow of public opinion. They put guns before butter, while we put just about everything before guns. They know that they are a <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">super power <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> in only one sense—the military sense. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #669966; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[fo 3] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">They are a failure in <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">human <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and economic terms. But let us make no mistake. The Russians calculate that their military strength will more than make up for their economic and social <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">weakness <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. They are determined to use it in order to get what they want from us. Last year on the eve of the Helsinki Conference, I warned that the Soviet Union is spending 20 per cent more each year than the United States on military research and development. 25 per cent more on weapons and equipment. 60 per cent more on strategic nuclear forces. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In the past ten years Russia has spent 50 per cent more than the United States on naval shipbuilding. Some military experts believe that Russia has already achieved strategic <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">superiority <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">over America. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #669966; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[fo 4] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But it is the balance of <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">conventional <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">forces which poses the most immediate dangers for NATO. I am going to visit our troops in Germany on Thursday. I am going at a moment when the Warsaw Pact forces—that is, the forces of Russia and her allies—in Central Europe outnumber NATOs by 150,000 men nearly 10,000 tanks and 2,600 aircraft. We cannot afford to let that gap get bigger. Still more serious gaps have opened up elsewhere—especially in the troubled area of Southern Europe and the Mediterranean. The rise of Russia as a world-wide naval power, threatens our oil rigs and our <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">traditional <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">life-lines, the sea routes. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #669966; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[fo 5] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Over the past ten years, the Russians have quadrupled their force of nuclear submarines. They are now building one nuclear submarine a month. They are searching for new naval base facilities all over the world, while we are giving up our few remaining bases. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">They have moved into the Indian Ocean. They pose a rising threat to our northern waters and, farther east to Japan's vital sea routes. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Soviet navy is not designed for self-defence. We do not have to imagine an all-out nuclear war or even a <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">conventional <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">war in order to see how it could be used for political purposes. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #669966; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[fo 6] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I would be the first to welcome any evidence that the Russians are ready to enter into a genuine detente. But I am afraid that the evidence points the other way. I warned before Helsinki of the dangers of falling for an illusory detente. Some people were <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">sceptical <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">at the time, but we now see that my warning was fully <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">justified <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Has detente induced the Russians to cut back on their defence programme? Has it dissuaded them from brazen <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">intervention <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> in Angola? Has it led to any <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">improvement <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> in the conditions of Soviet citizens, or the subject populations of Eastern Europe? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #669966; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[fo 7] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We know the answers. At Helsinki we endorsed the status quo in Eastern Europe. In return we had hoped for the <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">freer <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">movement of people and ideas across the Iron Curtain. So far we have got nothing of substance. We are devoted, as we always have been, to the maintenance of <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">peace <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. We will welcome any <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">initiative <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">from the Soviet Union that would contribute to that goal. But we must also heed the warnings of those, like Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who remind us that we have been fighting a kind of ‘Third World War’ over the entire period since 1945—and that we have been steadily losing ground. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #669966; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[fo 8 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As we look back over the battles of the past year, over the list of countries that have been lost to <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">freedom <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">or are imperilled by Soviet <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">expansion <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">can we deny that Solzhenitsyn is right?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This piece written by Margaret Thatcher (Iron lady), the first female prime minister of Great Britain, was well-known for the strong offensive stance she took against the Soviet Union’s growing militaristic threat. However, she uses many meaningless words such as “freedom”, “justified”, “socialists”, as well as many others which have different connotations to the terms. For many of these words, they carry ambiguous definitions or just don’t have a true definition supporting the word, such as “socialist”. The audience basically sees such a term with a negative connotation, negating the effectiveness the speech could have (or only carrying the message that Thatcher wishes send) to her people of Great Britain. Though its quite obvious that she purposely structured this speech with such meaningless words to move toward action against the Soviets, it must not be ignored that the desired affect is achieved through its use, in end, provoking Great Britain with concerned pathos to take a stand against the “socialists”.
 * __<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Review __**

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Friday, January 20, 1961
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Pretentious Diction **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">…. So let us begin anew—remembering on both sides that <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">civility <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is not a sign of weakness, and <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">sincerity <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is always subject to proof. Let us never <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> negotiate <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">belaboring <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> those problems which divide us.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Let both sides, for the first time, <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">formulate <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> serious and <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">precise <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> proposals for the inspection and control of arms—and bring the <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">absolute <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Let both sides seek to <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">invoke <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> eradicate <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">commerce <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah—to "undo the heavy burdens ... and to let the oppressed go free."

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And if a <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">beachhead <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">endeavor <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">preserved <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Administration <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">summoned <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> to give <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> testimony <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">surround <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> the globe.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Now the trumpet <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">summons <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">embattled <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">we are—but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">tribulation <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"—a struggle against the common enemies of man: <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> tyranny <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, poverty, disease, and war itself.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">alliance, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">shrink <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> from this responsibility—I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">endeavor <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> will light our country and all who serve it—and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man……


 * __<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Review __**

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In his inaugural address, President John F. Kennedy created the legendary saying “ Ask not what your country can do for you-- ask what you can do for your country”. This phrase was very simple and very effective but, in other parts of his speech he used pretentious diction that was ineffective. Words like beachhead, embattled, and shrink sound sophisticated, however, they are uncommon words that don’t enhance the message, instead they blur the meaning and therefore are unnecessary. If a simple word can be used to show the same meaning it is better to use the simple word. For example, Kennedy uses the word endeavor when he could use a simpler word such as effort. Using simple language creates a meaning that everyone can understand instead of trying to hide the real meaning of the words. Pretentious diction is used to try and enhance a piece of writing or a speech, but in reality it ruins the overall impact.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Challenger Space Shuttle Explosion speech <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">pained to the core <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge, and I'll meet it with joy." They had a <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> hunger to explore <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We're still pioneers <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. They, the members of the Challenger crew, <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">were pioneers <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And I want to say something to the school children of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">expanding man's horizons <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">pulling us into the future <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, and we'll continue to follow them. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute. We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue. I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them: Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime, <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> the great frontiers were the oceans <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, and an historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it." Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honoured us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye, and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to " <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">touch the face of God <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">."
 * Dying Metaphors**

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This speech regarding the tragedy of the Space Shuttle Challenger that was launched January 28, 1986, was delivered by President Ronald Reagan on a crisp winter’s morning in Florida. His purpose was to address the nation of this unfortunate event and offer his condolences. In his speech, he tended to use several dying metaphors- an overused comparison without using “like” or “as” that is familiar to most people. The effect of using dying metaphors results in a loss of vividness and accuracy of what is trying to be said. Because Ronald Reagan used dying metaphors such as “ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">hunger to explore”, “expanding man's horizons”, and “pained to the core”, his speech did not carry as much value as it could have. All these phases are common in the English language, and therefore are repetitive and do not carry as much value as a more accurate metaphor would. If Ronald Reagan would have made up a more accurate metaphor to fit what he was trying to say, the audience would be more engaged and it would carry more weigh. This in turn would create a more emotional and more effective speech.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Review__ **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Meaningless Words, Pretentious Diction, and Dying Metaphors in Modern Political Language

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Meaningless Word <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dying Metaphor <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Pretentious Diction

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">THE PRESIDENT: Madam Speaker, Vice President Biden, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Our Constitution declares that from time to time, the President shall give to Congress information about the state of our union. For 220 years, our leaders have <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">fulfilled <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> this duty. They've done so during periods of <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">prosperity <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">tranquility <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. And they've done so in the <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">midst <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> of <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">war <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">depression <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">; at moments of great <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">strife <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and great <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">struggle <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It's tempting to look back on these moments and assume that our <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">progress <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">was <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">inevitable <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -– that America was always destined to <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">succeed <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. But when the Union was turned back at Bull Run, and the Allies first landed at Omaha Beach, <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">victory <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">was very much in doubt. When the market crashed on Black Tuesday, and civil rights marchers were beaten on Bloody Sunday, the future was anything but certain. These were the <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">times that tested <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> the <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">courage <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">of our <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">convictions, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and the strength of our union. And despite all our divisions and disagreements, our <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">hesitations <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and our fears, America <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">prevailed <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">because we chose <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">to move forward as one nation <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, as one people. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Again, we are tested. And again, we must answer history's call. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One year ago, I took office <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">amid <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">two wars, <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">an economy rocked by <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> a severe <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">recession <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, a financial system on the <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> verge <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> of <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">collapse <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, and a government deeply in <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">debt <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Experts from across the political <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">spectrum <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">warned that if we did not act, we might face a second <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">depression <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. So we acted -– immediately and <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">aggressively <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. And one year later, <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the worst of the storm <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> has passed. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But the <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">devastation <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">remains. One in 10 Americans still cannot find work. Many businesses have <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">shuttered <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Home values have <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">declined <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Small towns and rural communities <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">have been hit <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> especially hard. And for those who'd already known <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">poverty <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, life has become that much harder. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">recession <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">has also <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">compounded <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the burdens that America's families have been dealing with for decades –- the burden of working harder and longer for less; of being unable to save enough to retire or help kids with college. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So I know the <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">anxieties <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> that are out there right now. They're not new. These struggles are the reason I ran for President. These struggles are what I've witnessed for years in places like Elkhart, Indiana; Galesburg, Illinois. I hear about them in the letters that I read each night. The toughest to read are those written by children -– asking why they have to move from their home, asking when their mom or dad will be able to go back to work. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For these Americans and so many others, <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">change has not come fast enough <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Some are frustrated; some are angry. They don't understand why it seems like bad behavior on Wall Street is rewarded, but hard work on Main Street isn't; or why Washington has been unable or unwilling to solve any of our problems. They're tired of the <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">partisanship <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and the shouting and the <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">pettiness <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. They know we can't afford it. Not now. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So we face big and difficult challenges. And what the American people hope -– what they deserve -– is for all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">work through our differences <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">; to overcome the <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">numbing <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">weight of our politics. For while the people who sent us here have different backgrounds, different stories, different beliefs, the <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">anxieties <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">they face are the same. The <span style="background-color: #00ffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">aspirations <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> they hold are shared: a job that pays the bills; a chance to get ahead; most of all, the ability to give their children a better life.


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Re-Written Version: **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Our Constitution declares that from time to time, the President shall give to Congress information about the state of our union. For 220 years, our leaders have done this duty. They've done so during periods of good times and relative peace. And they've done so during international combat and economic slowdown; at moments of great peril.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It's tempting to look back on these moments and assume that our growth was to be expected -– that America was always destined to survive and excel. But when the Union was turned back at Bull Run, and the Allies first landed at Omaha Beach, our winning was very much in doubt. When the market crashed on Black Tuesday, and civil rights marchers were beaten on Bloody Sunday, the future was anything but certain. These were the times that tested the strength in the face of pain and grief of our beliefs, and the strength of our union. And despite all our divisions and disagreements, our uncertainties and our fears, America proved more powerful than opposing forces because we chose to advance together as a nation, as one people.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Again, we are tested. And again, we must answer history's call.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One year ago, I took office during two wars, an economy crippled by a severe period of temporary economic decline, a financial system about to collapse, and a government deeply in state of owing money. Political experts warned that if we did not act, we might face a second long-term downturn in economic activity. So we acted -– immediately and forcefully. And one year later, the nightmare ceased.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But the the state of being decayed remains. One in 10 Americans still cannot find work. Many businesses have declined. Home values have diminished in strength. Small towns and rural communities received the biggest blow. And for those who'd already known the state of being extremely poor, life has become that much harder.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This period of temporary economic decline has also raised the burdens that America's families have been dealing with for decades –- the burden of working harder and longer for less; of being unable to save enough to retire or help kids with college.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So I know the worries that are out there right now. They're not new. These struggles are the reason I ran for President. These struggles are what I've witnessed for years in places like Elkhart, Indiana; Galesburg, Illinois. I hear about them in the letters that I read each night. The toughest to read are those written by children -– asking why they have to move from their home, asking when their mom or dad will be able to go back to work.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For these Americans and so many others, change is slow in coming. Some are frustrated; some are angry. They don't understand why it seems like bad behavior on Wall Street is rewarded, but hard work on Main Street isn't; or why Washington has been unable or unwilling to solve any of our problems. They're tired of the inclination to favor one group and the shouting and the narrowness of ideas. They know we can't afford it. Not now.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So we face big and difficult challenges. And what the American people hope -– what they deserve -– is for all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to solve the contrast; to overcome the weight of our politics. For while the people who sent us here have different backgrounds, different stories, different beliefs, the feelings of worry they face are the same. The goals they hold are shared: a job that pays the bills; a chance to get ahead; most of all, the ability to give their children a better life.