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After negative attacks from both campaigns over the weekend, Americans were curious to see how John McCain and Barack Obama would perform in last night's second presidential debate.
Trailing in the polls and in key battleground states, the stakes were particularly for John McCain. Obama's task, on the other hand, was to keep his momentum and fight off any charges with regard to his character or judgment.
With the passage of federal bailout plan last week, the economy was also likely to dominate the debate and both the general public and strategists wondered if both candidates would adjust their economic rhetoric in light of these recent developments (see Analysis #11).
The following is an analysis of the words McCain and Obama used during the townhall debate in response to the questions posed by moderator Tom Brokaw and undecided voters in the audience.
1. The Debate's Keywords
2. Significant Phrases
An analysis of the phrases most significantly used by both candidates in the debate also reveals the different rhetorical strategies.
By frequently referencing each other, McCain and Obama both tried to draw sharp differences between their respective policies.
Whereas McCain stresses Obama's past policies (Senator Obama has, Senator Obama was, is Senator Obama, Obama was wrong), Obama's rhetoric displays a greater concern for the future impact of McCain's proposals (Senator McCain is (going), know Senator McCain, Senator McCain suggested).
Obama's emphasis, as the list of phrases show, is clearly on the shortcomings of the Bush administration (been doing in last years) and on the social impact of the economic crises with his frequent references to the issues related to middle class concerns (health care are, is harder to retire, have health insurance, etc.).
McCain's most significant phrases, on the other hand, reveal the frequent references to the energy sector (vote oil drilling, vote point oil, oil bridge gap), the image of the U.S. as a country (United States America, America lot criticism), and the role of government (talking government do, do government business, etc.).
3. Nouns, Adjectives, Personal Pronouns
The following is a breakdown of the nouns, adjective and pronouns John McCain and Barack Obama used with a significantly higher frequency than the other candidate during the debate:
a. Nouns
Typical Nouns for McCain are:
One of the most striking rhetorical features of McCain in last night's debate was his usage of the phrase my friends (McCain: 19 times, Obama: 0, for a history of the phrase see here).
When compared with Obama, McCain's significantly more frequent references to strategy and record (McCain mentions record 8 times, Obama: 4) indicate his goal to point to his political and military leadership skills and his experience. His frequent use of the word "taxes" also connect his rhetoric during the debate to one of the cornerstone of his campaign, the promise not to raise taxes and denounce the tax policies of his opponent.
Typical Nouns for Obama are:
When looking at Obama's most used nouns in comparison with McCain, a different picture emerges. Obama not only makes an effort to give concrete examples for his ideas, he also underlines, yet again, the consequences of the economic crisis for ordinary people (budget).
He also invokes, significantly more than McCain, the terms health care (Obama: 18 times, McCain 6) and middle class (Obama: 4 times, McCain: 0). Similarly, he has a slight lead in talking about energy.
b. Personal Pronouns
Typical Personal Pronouns for McCain are:
McCain's statistically higher usage of the pronouns my and his illustrate his efforts to draw a sharp distinction between himself and his opponent.
Typical Personal Pronouns for Obama are:
Obama's statistically higher usage of the personal your and us, on the other hand, shifts the focus away from a criticism of his opponent to a direct engagement with his audience, suggesting dialogue and collectivity (see also previous analyses, esp. #5
4. Collocations
The clusters below illustrate the collocations for particular keywords or topics employed John McCain and Barack Obama:
a. health
One of the most striking differences between the candidates in the debate appeared with in the field of health care. When given the choice by moderator Tom Brokaw, McCain defined it as a responsibility, whereas Obama considered it a right. The collocation clusters of both candidates for the term "health" reflect this distinction.
John McCain's references to health circle very much circle around the technical aspects of it, such as affordability and his own health care plan (tax credit):
His opponent Barack Obama devotes a considerable amount of his references to health care to attacking McCain's proposals. At the same, however, Obama makes the issue more concrete by giving examples (child, company) and relating it to other topics (national security), thereby displaying more empathy.
Contributing to this difference in the evocation of empathy with the audience is the fact that, when talking about health care, McCain refers to the impersonal term "people", whereas Obama personalizes the issue with his usage of the personal pronouns "you" and your".
b. Afghanistan
Similar differences appear when looking at the collocations for Afghanistan for both candidates.
As the cluster below illustrates, McCain closely links the war in Afghanistan to the general defense of freedom as well as the case of Russia:
Obama's collocations with regard to Afghanistan, on the other hand, show a clearer reflection of his overall strategic military objectives, the war in Iraq and the connection to his tax policies.
c. Bush
The collocations for the name of the President George W. Bush also give an insight into the campaign's different strategies with regard to the current administration.
McCain tries to distance himself from the Bush administration and even tries to connect Obama to its policies:
Underlying this rhetorical strategy of linking McCain to the past is also Obama's frequent evocation of the phrase last eight years (Obama: 9 times, McCain: 0) during the debate.
5. Vocabulary
The following shows McCain and Obama's variety of words and the distribution between linguistic categories:
In terms of linguistic features, there are no striking differences between McCain and Obama apart from the fact that on average Obama's sentences are 5 words longer, indicating a greater grammatical complexity.
6. Conclusion
The second presidential debate was mainly characterized by the attempt of both candidates to draw a sharp distinction between each other policies.
From a linguistic perspective, John McCain very effectively contrasted his own record and policies to that of Barack Obama and communicated his political message in very clear terms.
Obama, on the other hand, succeeded (despite the greater length of his sentence) to address the audience more directly through concrete examples of his ideas and plans and the dialogic structure of his speech.
Although McCain employed his own strategy of creating empathy through his rhetoric (my friends), Obama's communicative strategy was, on a linguistic level, more closely connected to the (economic) issues that are currently of the middle class and most voters.
author(s): js/mk/nb date: 10/08/2008 title: "Obama vs. McCain: Round 2 - The (Rhetorical) Gloves Come Off" textid/texts: 12/18
Trailing in the polls and in key battleground states, the stakes were particularly for John McCain. Obama's task, on the other hand, was to keep his momentum and fight off any charges with regard to his character or judgment.
With the passage of federal bailout plan last week, the economy was also likely to dominate the debate and both the general public and strategists wondered if both candidates would adjust their economic rhetoric in light of these recent developments (see Analysis #11).
The following is an analysis of the words McCain and Obama used during the townhall debate in response to the questions posed by moderator Tom Brokaw and undecided voters in the audience.
1. The Debate's Keywords
2. Significant Phrases
An analysis of the phrases most significantly used by both candidates in the debate also reveals the different rhetorical strategies.
By frequently referencing each other, McCain and Obama both tried to draw sharp differences between their respective policies.
Whereas McCain stresses Obama's past policies (Senator Obama has, Senator Obama was, is Senator Obama, Obama was wrong), Obama's rhetoric displays a greater concern for the future impact of McCain's proposals (Senator McCain is (going), know Senator McCain, Senator McCain suggested).
Obama's emphasis, as the list of phrases show, is clearly on the shortcomings of the Bush administration (been doing in last years) and on the social impact of the economic crises with his frequent references to the issues related to middle class concerns (health care are, is harder to retire, have health insurance, etc.).
McCain's most significant phrases, on the other hand, reveal the frequent references to the energy sector (vote oil drilling, vote point oil, oil bridge gap), the image of the U.S. as a country (United States America, America lot criticism), and the role of government (talking government do, do government business, etc.).
3. Nouns, Adjectives, Personal Pronouns
The following is a breakdown of the nouns, adjective and pronouns John McCain and Barack Obama used with a significantly higher frequency than the other candidate during the debate:
a. Nouns
Typical Nouns for McCain are:
| Nouns | Significance Level | Relative Frequency Factor |
|---|---|---|
| friend | < 0.0001 | 27,63 |
| strategy | 0,00304 | not used by Obama |
| other | 0,00304 | not used by Obama |
| record | 0,00420 | 4,25 |
| value | 0,00576 | not used by Obama |
| taxis | 0,00845 | 5,84 |
One of the most striking rhetorical features of McCain in last night's debate was his usage of the phrase my friends (McCain: 19 times, Obama: 0, for a history of the phrase see here).
When compared with Obama, McCain's significantly more frequent references to strategy and record (McCain mentions record 8 times, Obama: 4) indicate his goal to point to his political and military leadership skills and his experience. His frequent use of the word "taxes" also connect his rhetoric during the debate to one of the cornerstone of his campaign, the promise not to raise taxes and denounce the tax policies of his opponent.
Typical Nouns for Obama are:
| Nouns | Significance Level | Relative Frequency Factor |
|---|---|---|
| year | 0,00090 | 4,32 |
| budget | 0,00546 | not used by McCain |
| example | 0,00961 | not used by McCain |
| system | 0,02443 | 7,52 |
| energy | 0,02738 | 2,55 |
| class | 0,02975 | not used by McCain |
| help | 0,02975 | not used by McCain (as noun) |
| care | 0,04020 | 2,41 |
When looking at Obama's most used nouns in comparison with McCain, a different picture emerges. Obama not only makes an effort to give concrete examples for his ideas, he also underlines, yet again, the consequences of the economic crisis for ordinary people (budget).
He also invokes, significantly more than McCain, the terms health care (Obama: 18 times, McCain 6) and middle class (Obama: 4 times, McCain: 0). Similarly, he has a slight lead in talking about energy.
b. Personal Pronouns
Typical Personal Pronouns for McCain are:
| Personal Pronouns | Significance Level | Relative Frequency Factor |
|---|---|---|
| my | < 0.0001 | 6,11 |
| his | 0,00260 | 6,90 |
McCain's statistically higher usage of the pronouns my and his illustrate his efforts to draw a sharp distinction between himself and his opponent.
Typical Personal Pronouns for Obama are:
| Personal Pronouns | Significance Level | Relative Frequency Factor |
|---|---|---|
| your | 0,01358 | 2,15 |
| us | 0,01905 | 2,08 |
Obama's statistically higher usage of the personal your and us, on the other hand, shifts the focus away from a criticism of his opponent to a direct engagement with his audience, suggesting dialogue and collectivity (see also previous analyses, esp. #5
4. Collocations
The clusters below illustrate the collocations for particular keywords or topics employed John McCain and Barack Obama:
a. health
One of the most striking differences between the candidates in the debate appeared with in the field of health care. When given the choice by moderator Tom Brokaw, McCain defined it as a responsibility, whereas Obama considered it a right. The collocation clusters of both candidates for the term "health" reflect this distinction.
John McCain's references to health circle very much circle around the technical aspects of it, such as affordability and his own health care plan (tax credit):
His opponent Barack Obama devotes a considerable amount of his references to health care to attacking McCain's proposals. At the same, however, Obama makes the issue more concrete by giving examples (child, company) and relating it to other topics (national security), thereby displaying more empathy.
Contributing to this difference in the evocation of empathy with the audience is the fact that, when talking about health care, McCain refers to the impersonal term "people", whereas Obama personalizes the issue with his usage of the personal pronouns "you" and your".
b. Afghanistan
Similar differences appear when looking at the collocations for Afghanistan for both candidates.
As the cluster below illustrates, McCain closely links the war in Afghanistan to the general defense of freedom as well as the case of Russia:
Obama's collocations with regard to Afghanistan, on the other hand, show a clearer reflection of his overall strategic military objectives, the war in Iraq and the connection to his tax policies.
c. Bush
The collocations for the name of the President George W. Bush also give an insight into the campaign's different strategies with regard to the current administration.
McCain tries to distance himself from the Bush administration and even tries to connect Obama to its policies:
Underlying this rhetorical strategy of linking McCain to the past is also Obama's frequent evocation of the phrase last eight years (Obama: 9 times, McCain: 0) during the debate.
5. Vocabulary
The following shows McCain and Obama's variety of words and the distribution between linguistic categories:
| Linguistic Feature | McCain | Obama |
|---|---|---|
| Nouns | 470 | 487 |
| Adjectives | 183 | 174 |
| Pronouns | 19 | 22 |
| Adverbs | 103 | 105 |
| Verbs | 236 | 249 |
| Total | 1011 | 1037 |
| Average Length of Sentences | 14,9 | 19,0 |
In terms of linguistic features, there are no striking differences between McCain and Obama apart from the fact that on average Obama's sentences are 5 words longer, indicating a greater grammatical complexity.
6. Conclusion
The second presidential debate was mainly characterized by the attempt of both candidates to draw a sharp distinction between each other policies.
From a linguistic perspective, John McCain very effectively contrasted his own record and policies to that of Barack Obama and communicated his political message in very clear terms.
Obama, on the other hand, succeeded (despite the greater length of his sentence) to address the audience more directly through concrete examples of his ideas and plans and the dialogic structure of his speech.
Although McCain employed his own strategy of creating empathy through his rhetoric (my friends), Obama's communicative strategy was, on a linguistic level, more closely connected to the (economic) issues that are currently of the middle class and most voters.
author(s): js/mk/nb date: 10/08/2008 title: "Obama vs. McCain: Round 2 - The (Rhetorical) Gloves Come Off" textid/texts: 12/18
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