A Critical Discourse Analysis of Nationalism in Obama's Speeches

The current study investigates the notion of nationalism in terms of a critical discourse analysis in Obama's speeches. It aims at discovering how nationalism is employed in political discourse and what are the ideological linguistic strategies that politicians use to uncover this notion for the purpose of reinforcing and strengthening their governmental position. For the method of analysis, the current study uses a qualitative method to describe how Obama employs these strategies in his speeches. For the model of analysis, Vandijk (2002) is utilized in this study. The study concludes that politicians, like Obama in their political speeches, aim to foster a strong sense of American identity and national unity by using inclusive and ideological linguistic strategies such as national self-glorification, actor description, metaphor, lexicalization, populism, honesty, and repetition. These linguistic strategies serve political leaders in achieving their political interests and objectives by conveying their concern for the general national interests of their nation.