I am going to be reviewing one of my favorite speeches from President Obama, and that would be the speech in response the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012. This speech was filled with emotion and comfort for those who were hurt by this tragic event. President Obama’s voice remains calm and even as he speaks. He goes slow and steady when discussing the tragedy so that the audience can feel and digest all of the words that he is saying.

Emotions get the best of him at some points in his speech and he lets this show. Allowing the audience to feel his tears as well. One of the most important traits of a good speech is the ability to keep an audience engaged and active while listening. In my opinion, Obama does just that. He does not go on and on about statistics and numbers but instead focuses on exactly what the country needs to hear. The people wanted to know about the children that had recently lost their lives and what they could do to prevent such a horrible tragedy from happening again.  

He repeats the phrases like, “Our country…” “These children…” “The families…” To bring the American people together. He also mentions policies that should help the country avoid something like this.

His eye contact captures me everytime he speaks because you can actually see all the emotions written on his face. Emotions as a leader of America, but more importantly as a father of two children. From experience, I know when this happened I was in the fifth grade and my brother was in second. My father came home that night and hugged us. Of course, I was the only one who really understood why he suddenly did this. My brother was too young.

In this speech, the country needed a man who could sympathize and offer comfort for the community who had to go through such a horrible event that stripped away the lives of those 20 children and 6 school teachers.

This speech will always be one of my favorites and it is so sad that it could still be used in today’s day and age with all of the gun violence still around. I hope for the families involved that they receive the comfort and support that they need. I also hope that challenges like these are solved so that the future generations do not have to go through these hardships that were faced in 2012.