Topic

George W. Bush’ s 2002 State of the Union address is a political speech, delivered in front of the US Congress. This implies that the topics explored by the speaker are of a political nature and concern issues relevant for the United Stat…

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The war against terrorism

The main topic of the speech is related to American foreign policy: the war against terrorism. Within this theme, the speaker explores several different aspects: the 9/11 terrorist attacks, state regimes that support terrorists, and the global war on terror. These aspects dominate most of the speech.

The speaker focuses on how the 9/11 attacks affected the American people and on how the US government responded: “In four short months, our nation has comforted the victims, begun to rebuild New York…

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Homeland security 

Another topic the speaker explores in his speech is that of homeland security. Homeland security refers to developing ways to protect the US from another terrorist attack. The speaker argues this can b…

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US economy

Finally, the third major theme of the speech is the US economy, which at the time was in recession. When he discusses this topic, the speaker focuses on the necessity of creating jobs: “When America works, America prospers, so my economic security plan can be summed up in one wor…

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Argumentation

Speakers can encourage the audience to accept their arguments either by using direct (open) argumentation and explicitly stating their ideas, or by using hidden (closed) argumentation to indirectly suggest ideas, for example through examples, facts, and case studies. Most of the speech is an example of direct argumentation.

The speaker is generally straightforward about the points he makes like in the following examples: “Our cause is just, and it continues. Our discoveries in Afghanistan confirmed our worst fears, and showed us the tr…