How Obama argues his case

When looking at the way a speaker or sender argues his case, you should pay attention to both the content and form of his speech and make sure you have correctly identified the main argument.

In “Address to the Nation on Immigration”, Barack Obama argues for a reform of the immigration system in the US and proposes a middle-way to deal with the issue until the legislative reform takes place. His main arguments focus on illegal immigrants, and he advocates for granting a part of them the permit to stay in the US.

He argues this case in three main ways when we look at the content: By virtue of necessity, by differentiating between “good” and “bad” immigrants, and by emphasizing the benefits the “good” immigrants can bring to the American nation;

Obama argues for the measures he intends to take regarding illegal immigrants by making it clear to the audience that the issue of immigration is urgent and should be dealt with: “But today, our immigration system is broken – and everybody knows it.” (l. 6)

He then offers statistics regarding...