Circumstances

Barack Obama's announcement speech was delivered on February 10, 2007, in Springfield, Illinois, before the Old State Capitol. Barack Obama’s speech came in the context of the subsequent 2008 US presidential elections.

In the US, the presidential race is divided into two parts. First, there is a race between same-party contenders. The two big parties in the US are the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. Politicians from each of the parties compete to become their party’s official nominee for the presidential elections. Then, the official nominees compete against each other to be elected US President.

Barack Obama’s speech was delivered in the first part of the presidential race, announcing that he is officially entering the competition to become the Democratic Party nominee. In this part of the race, he competed against other Democratic candidates such as Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator John Edwards.

A presidential announcement speech is standard part of the American electoral process. However, because...