In president Obama's State of the Union speech, I think the main topic he addressed was issues surrounding middle class economics. The medium I choose was the video because a visual is better for me to be more engaged if I am watching a speech and to try to determine ethos versus just reading a speech; and also to witness the emotion and passion they have for the topic they are discussing, which I may not be able to do just by reading the speech. His main point is that middle class economics and expanding opportunities works and will continue to work. Helping people afford childcare was one of the issues he addressed. In America, we need childcare because usually both parents in a family work, or there is a single parent household and the parent works. Raising minimum wage was another issue since a full-time minimum wage worker in a family of two earns $14,500 a year, placing them below the poverty line. He then talked about providing guaranteed paid sick and paid maternity leave to workers, stating that the United States is the only advanced country that does not guaranteed paid sick and paid maternity leave to workers. Next, he mentioned ways for Americans to expand and upgrade their skills since people with Associates degrees earn 25% more than people who never went to college. He went on to say that he plans to lower the cost of community college to zero to make earning an Associates degree free, similar to obtaining a high school diploma, implying that providing affordable education can lead to Americans being more skilled, and in turn taking on more high wage jobs. I think the genre in his speech was mainly argumentative in which he argued his views and his stance on middle class economics and what he believes needs to be done. However I found there may have been a mixture of narrative genre because he discussed the three "categories" to form what middle class economics in our times requires; 1)helping working families make ends meet, 2)helping Americans upgrade their skills, and 3)keep providing high wage jobs in the economy for workers.
