On May 26, 2015, in Burlington, Vermont Bernie Sanders formally announced that he would be running for President of the United States. Sanders, a junior United States Senator and former Representative from Vermont, declared his candidacy on the shores of Lake Champlain because he had maintained high public opinion while serving as mayor of Burlington from 1981-1989. His successful stint as mayor there gave him good cause to feel comfortable announcing his bid for the Presidential Nomination, complacent even. Sanders began his speech by addressing the major concerns of his target audience, the common man, and reassuring them that he will champion them. He claimed that the American economy has declined, and capitalized on income inequality and …show more content…
A throng of zealous Bernie adherents; they knew beforehand what his policies and political ideologies were. He didn’t have to win them over with his speech; they were already firmly his. He only had to reinvigorate them with a synopsis of his policies, and in doing so instill them with a sense of purpose. Several times throughout his speech he vilifies the uber-wealthy, “There is something profoundly wrong when one family owns more wealth than the bottom 130 million Americans. This grotesque level of inequality is immoral” (13). This makes it very clear that his target audience is the middle and lower class. Further evidence of this can be found here, “The United States must join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to all…” (34). “I will fight to make tuition in public colleges and universities free, as well as substantially lower interest rates on student loans” (36). These are policies directed at those who need or want these services but cannot afford them. The most glaringly obvious purpose of Sander’s speech is to announce his bid for the United States Presidency. However, he also exhorts his audience to make positive changes in the political and economical arenas. How? By electing Bernie Sanders of …show more content…
His use of real persons lends credibility while he wrings the audience for sympathy by relating his impoverished boyhood. The inclusion of this touching anecdote is pivotal. It proved to Sanders’ audience on a deeply personal level, that he knows what it’s like to be in need. To be hungry. To be poor. He used this visceral connection to take possession of the audience’s empathy at this point. His audience. By demonstrating beyond a doubt that he can empathize with them, he earned theirs’ in return. Ironically, the implication in the sharing of this autobiographical tidbit is lost on his audience. Yes, by sharing he does make himself seem vulnerable, human even. But the connotation in the sharing is not that he actually does empathize with the downtrodden masses, only that he can. The potential doing, the capability, is confused with the actuality of the doing. Digging deeper into this ironical duality, one can discern that due to the very nature of empathy, the audience can now see themselves in Bernie. Bernie, the career politician, generally regarded as notoriously glib and fickle creatures. Bernie, the elderly white male incumbent. Bernie, who is no longer Sanders in their minds due to the phantasmic familiarity he has cultivated. The dichotomy between where he came from and that of his current position: delivering a speech declaring that he will be running for the Presidency of the United States of America, affirms to his