September 11, 1998

President Bill Clinton spoke on September 11, 1998, at the annual White House prayer breakfast. Though I did not hear this particular speech, it was apparently given to the clergy following his address to the nation about the Monica Lewinsky affair.

From a rhetorical standpoint, and aside from any positive or negative views on President Clinton or the specific situation that preceded this event, I think the overall speech is effective. In reflecting upon the surrounding circumstances to his speech, President Clinton’s ethos would not have been too convincing at this point in his presidency. However, the speech he gives is timely and his tone takes on an appropriate one of sorrow and regret. He immediately attempts to establish a sense of credibility as he confesses his wrongdoings against God, his family and his country. He admits that the speech he intends to give is one he handwrote (and prayed about) the previous night. He makes his apologies. He acknowledges that true sorrow in the heart brings leads one to repentance. And this repentance, he says, is "a determination to change and to repair breaches of [his] own making." He references the Bible and ties in a number of verses that pertain to his situation.

From the direction of his personal confessions, he goes on to delineate what this means for the nation as a whole. This lets the people know that he realizes how his actions have not just affected him personally, but have affected the whole country. He gives three strong points of things he intends to do as forms of "repair." He tells the nation, from this point, that though he "cannot move beyond or forget this," it is important that "our nation move forward." He looks forward with confidence for the nation and with hope of forgiveness for himself. He says that the country can learn in a "profound" way that "integrity is important and selfishness is wrong" and that "God can change us and make us strong at the broken places."

Through the use of his rhetoric, his ethos is established, and he offers meaningful logos throughout the structure of his speech. He offers suggestions with real and detailed goals or methods of change.

Finally, he creates pathos in appealing to the country’s heart to forgive him. He admits to his brokenness all through his speech and tells his audience that he not only genuinely seeks repentance but intends to see that change is truly brought about. He creates a strong sense of pathos in a story he tells of a little boy who came up to him in Florida who said that he wanted to grow up and be just like him ("the President"). This real example appeals in an authentic way to his audience. He says he wants to be that example for children. Another added means of his pathos was a passage he stumbled upon from a liturgy book called Gates of Repentance he had received from a Jewish friend. The passage captures what President Clinton has said his heart has been diligently seeking: forgiveness and repentance. He ends in incorporating into his own prayers various passages from Scripture merged together. In this sense, the various Scriptures found throughout different books of the Bible and joined together without direct referencing--seeming to suggest that he is familiar with the Bible and these verses stumbled upon his remembrance and heart in writing the night before.

Whether he was sincere about this speech or not is left entirely for open-ended debate. However, the rhetoric in his speech was cultivated in such a way that proves very convincing. Persuading that he has come humbly before the God, his family, the clergy, the people of his country and under his leadership, in sincere apology and remorse.