Obama's State of the Union Address

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/26/133224933/transcript-obamas-state-of-union-address

In this particular speech President Obama is discussing America's economy and job opportunities. I chose this speech to show that in 2011 De Crevecoeur's idea of hard work and new opportunity is still very much rife amongst Americans. For example in De Crevecoeur's book Letters from an American Farmer he states "Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world" this is paralleled in Obama's speech where he says "What we can do — what America does better than anyone else — is spark the creativity and imagination of our people. We're the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook." This shows that what De Crevecoeur was suggesting will happen has happened and for the reasons he put forward, through hard work and the idea that you're rewarded for this in the United States.

Another idea that is seemingly paralleled between the two texts is that of reinvention and reformation. In Letters from an American Farmer in Letter 3 page 43-44 De Crevecoeur is discussing "What then is the American, this new man?" Throughout this passage we see repetition of the word "new" suggesting to the reader that America is a place of renewal, a place to forget your past. Again this idea is shown in Obama's speech with the quotes "That's what Americans have done for over 200 years: reinvented ourselves." and "What's more, we are the first nation to be founded for the sake of an idea — the idea that each of us deserves the chance to shape our own destiny. That's why centuries of pioneers and immigrants have risked everything to come here."

A section of De Crevecoeur's "What is an American?" letter that I found interesting is this, "The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore entertain new ideas and form new opinions" firstly the repetition of "new" again reinforces the idea of renewal and reform that America gives the settlers and secondly something that is quite prominent is the use of gender. De Crevecoeur is clearly referring to males in his letter despite women also settling in the United States. This is something that differs in Obama's speech, the continual use of the personal pronoun "we" shows that America has become an equal society. The quote I chose from Obama's speech to compare with this is, "From the earliest days of our founding, America has been the story of ordinary people who dare to dream. That's how we win the future." I think it is important to note that in his speech Obama uses the word "people" to describe the settlers, which contrasts what De Crevecoeur was saying at the time of settlement. However the message that both are trying to convey is very similar, America is a nation built on new ideas by people who dreamt of better standard of living. This is what they made for themselves in the United States and this whole idea of renewal, leaving the past behind and America offering something new is still the driving force of immigrants that go to the United States today in 2011.