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Article published In: Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 13:3 (2014) ► pp.512–537

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Variation and continuity in intertextual rhetoric

From the “War on Terror” to the “Struggle against Violent Extremism”

 | Carnegie Mellon University |
Published online: 22 December 2014
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.13.3.07odd
This article employs critical intertextual analysis (CIA) to examine how American presidents from opposing political parties respectively inaugurated and extended the war in Afghanistan. After explaining the CIA framework, I investigate two post-9/11 “call-to-arms” speeches delivered by George W. Bush and Barack Obama. I find that Obama responds to changing circumstances (e.g. public dissatisfaction) by varying stylistic elements of Bush’s rhetoric. Nevertheless, he rearticulates the overarching features of Bush’s “war on terror” discourse. Thus, Obama ultimately achieves policy continuity, but only by employing micro-rhetorical strategies that create the appearance of change. I conclude that, if Obama had been more enterprising, he might have enacted real change – and broken completely with Bush’s rhetoric and policy of global war.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Intertextuality, recontextualization, and transformation
  • 3.Analytic method: Critical intertextual analysis
  • 4.Contextualizing Obama’s “rhetorical shift”
    • 4.1U.S. Intervention and global dominance
    • 4.2President Bush’s address – September 20, 2001
    • 4.3President Obama’s speech – December 1st, 2009
  • 5.Analysis: Variation and continuity between Bush and Obama
    • 5.1Authorization for war: Enacting presidential ethos
    • 5.2“Us” and “Them”: Moralized lexis
    • 5.3The coming military campaign: Re-Envisioning global war
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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