Circumstances

Barack Obama delivered his 2012 victory speech during the night of the election results on 7th of November, 2012, at McCormick Place convention center in Chicago. This was his second (and last) election victory speech, as he had already been in office for a first presidential term.

The electoral campaign lasted for several months, and Obama’s main opponent was Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Barack Obama was the first President since 1944 to win reelections with fewer electoral votes and lower popular votes. This is probably why he describes himself and Romney as having “battled fiercely” (l. 35).

The debates preceding the elections focused mainly on domestic issues such as the economy, budget deficit, taxation, healthcare reform, education, and immigration. All these contextual issues are referenced in Obama’s victory speech: “reducing our deficit, reforming our tax code, fixing our immigration system, freeing ourselves from foreign oil.” (ll. 185-187); “had it not been for healthcare reform passing just a few months before” (ll. 231-232)

At that time, the US had recovered from the economic crisis, but it was struggling with a big budget deficit which means the government was spending more than the actua...