Introduction
Senator Barack Obama has been elected President of the United States. History is being made as Obama is the first African American President. It is a time for celebration and opinions are being expressed everywhere in the media on this historical event. Karl Rove in his article “Welcome to the White House, Mr. Obama”, published on 15 January 2009 in the Wall Street Journal warns that the celebrations cannot long and in his subtitle crisply declares, “The honeymoon doesn’t last long”. In this article, Karl Rove predicts that though it is a matter of pride that Barack Obama has become the first African-American President to be sworn in as the President of the United States, the euphoria associated with his coming to power is likely to be short-lived, because of the huge problems facing the government in reality. Mr. Karl Rove is the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush. Thesis: Mr. Karl Rove’s argument that Mr. Obama will face challenging times in the near future is well presented – ably supported by a logical structure, use of facts and figures, quotes from third-party sources and counter-arguments, and gradual progression of the intensity of persuasion.
Summary
Karl Rove predicts that the true challenges facing Team Obama will be apparent only after the inauguration. After the inauguration is completed, the illusion of perfect achievement will be over for the President and his aides, who have run a successful election campaign, and they will face before them, the more daunting task of running a government. In the view of Rove, Obama is not very prepared for the job as can be seen in his inability to take a strong position on the stimulus bill or on the Iraq war. Rove next accuses Obama of setting up unrealistic expectations by steadily increasing the number of jobs he plans to create in his recent speeches and criticizes vehemently his tax cut proposals by saying that they will not be effective welfare measures. He concludes that the euphoric feeling associated with Obama making it to the White House will soon end as he and his team officials become more aware of the ground realities and the challenges of leading a nation in an economic crisis.
Strengths
Karl Rove begins with the statement of a historical fact in a factual manner: “On Tuesday, America can take pride in a special transfer of power as Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be sworn in as president”.
Rove then proceeds to list what will happen immediately after the ceremony. He is seemingly sympathetic in his approach as he says that after the ceremony, the president’s aides will go and inspect their offices, posts for which they have sacrificed much in their lives and for which they should be respected by every American. However, the sympathy of the author for the President’s aides is also tinged with warning as he points to the fact that these posts will last only for two to three years and their lives are not going to be easy during this period – “Hours will be long, pressure unrelenting, decisions momentous, and families often neglected”.
Rove states that Team Obama will soon discover that it is more difficult to run a government than to run an election campaign. His statements are always followed by illustrations. According to Rove, they have already started discovering it and he points to two contradictions in Mr. Obama’s actions. While Mr. Obama had opposed a stimulus bill to the tune of $ 152 billion passed by Congress last February, criticizing the then Government for deficit spending, he now forecasts trillion-dollar deficits. Secondly, while Mr. Obama was critical of the execution of the Iraq war, he has chosen to retain George W. Bush’s defense secretary and put a Bush adviser in charge of the National Security Council. Citing these two instances of instability, Rove says that even if Mr. Obama recovers in time to decide on the bill, it is important that he is able to act strongly and decisively in the future.
Rove’s criticism is always specific and he criticizes Obama specifically for his idea of creating jobs through computerization of medical records, increasing funds to expand the Medicaid programs in states, and his proposed middle-class tax-cut. The power in the arguments of Karl Rover is strengthened by his use of factual information through statistics and examples. This makes him appeal to the reasoning mind in the reader. He cites his facts with the date and direct quotes from Mr. Obama. He uses external references to validate his stand. He quotes House Appropriations Chairman David Obey’s words to underline his argument that Mr. Obama is uncertain of his strategy. When he points to the fact that Mr. Obama is setting lofty expectations in the context of jobs, he supports the fact with the figures given by Obama along with the date on which they were given. Rove uses figures powerfully. Obama’s plans for creating jobs are very unrealistic says Rove – as creating 459,000 new “green energy” and 244,000 new jobs in the government will be difficult”. Karl Rover is also mathematically meticulous while criticizing the plans of Mr. Obama on tax cut proposals. He calculates that it will ultimately reach people who have no federal income tax liability and that it will work out to just twenty dollars per worker per week and will do nothing to stimulate welfare measures.
Using simple language, Karl Rove puts forth his arguments in a very logical and persuasive manner. First, the author acknowledges that it is a moment of pride for the entire nation. He agrees that the President’s aides have sacrificed much to be in office. Then he predicts that the true governing of the nation is a very daunting task and one that cannot be taken lightly as an election victory. He reiterates the beginning statement, in the end, giving the article completeness in structure with total emphasis on the main thesis that the present euphoria that the nation and Team Obama feels will last only till inauguration after which, Rove emphatically and clearly predicts “by the next day, the realities of governing will intrude”.
Karl Rover uses the technique of counterarguments to emphasize his points. He says that “Mr. Obama can recover” but not without being strong in his economic policies. He also gives Mr. Obama credit for the idea of computerizing America’s medical records in five years before passing his views on it. He says that Top Obama adviser David Axelrod’s polling and focus groups may argue that Obama’s spending is reasonable and he places his counterargument saying “But in the end, spending money on the same old junk will do little for the economy”.
Weaknesses
The article has very few weaknesses and is a perfect example of an opinion article. However, the article fails to appeal to the emotional side of the voter. By filling the article with facts and figures, Rove succeeds in satisfying the reasoning mind of the reader. If he had elaborated more on the difficulties in decision making involved in leading such a great country as America, or given references to American History, it would have had more impact, appealing to the patriotic side in the reader.
Conclusion
This article by Karl Rove is well written and his arguments are intelligently presented. He begins with the statement of a fact and builds his argument at a slow momentum through examples of the uncertainty of Obama, his unrealistic expectations, and the final assault on the ridiculous nature of his plans to eliminate joblessness. When he ends the article by saying that the next day to the inauguration will end the celebrations, the reader is coerced into agreeing with Karl Rove. Thus Karl Rove is a great persuader and is able to pull the reader to his side of the argument in a slow deliberate manner.
Bibliography
Rove, Karl (2009). Welcome to the White House, Mr. Obama. The Wall Street Journal, Web.