Abstract
Based on the identification theory of Kenneth Burke, this paper is a study of Obama’s 2013 inaugural speech and an exploration of how President Obama utilized presentation skills to achieve identification and recognition from the audience for his administration’s policies in his 2013 presidential inaugural address. Therefore, this article firstly introduces formal identification and content identification and then analyzes how President Obama achieved formal and content identification in his inaugural speech. Through analysis, it is found, firstly, that in the speech Obama showed himself as an enterprising president who was able to take a more comprehensive look at the positioning and development of the United States and, secondly and more importantly, that he was able to use his superb speech skills to arouse identification sentiments, persuade the audience and win their recognition and support for him. At the same time, the analysis of his speech strategies can provide a useful perspective for understanding political speeches.
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