Obama's Ethos

I don't think anybody was completely blown away by Obama's speech. I honestly didn't find it extraordinarily inspiring, but it was incredibly important nevertheless. It had a clear message, and was to the point; we should try hard in school. One thing I thought that did make Obama different from other possible speech-givers was his ethos. He spoke of growing up in Indonesia with a single mother who would teach him extra lessons at four in the morning so he would never fall behind the American curriculum. He and his mother tried, and now he's one of the most successful people on Earth. Students can trust him, look to him, because he's been through it. He knows what it's like to not be able to take everything for granted; he know's what it's like for life to be hard. He also was relatable, again building his ethos. He referenced the I-phone, facebook, and x-box, showing in a way he understood American youth. He used familiar language, relevant to kindergarders to almost-adult high school seniors.
Obama was realistic but motivational at the same time. He used the trust he had created to carry his point. He spoke of not being defined by your failures, and never giving up, because when you give up on your education you give up on the entire nation. This made education seem more important that just a math quiz or an ACT score. It's something that affects everybody. He was straight-forward in saying you can't depend on being a rapper or reality t.v. star, and in this way forced students to be pulled into the real world.
Even if half of everyone supposedly watching his speech was doing their homework or daydreaming, if he made one person think differently about their education I think it was worth it.