The Rhetorical Construction of the American Intervention in Libya: A Pentadic Analysis of President Barack Obama’s Address to the Nation on March 28, 2011

Abstract

The article focuses on the rhetoric of President Barack Obama regarding the US intervention in Libya in 2011. It challenges the view that Obama was changing the course of US foreign relations and shows that his words worked to represent actions that made it impossible to shift the direction of US foreign policy. Analysis reveals that the president spoke of alternatives to military action but his language served to justify the use of force in the region. He called for action through an integrated international framework but his message was designed to diminish the US profile in public opinion and not deem the US as a controlling power. Consequently, the article suggests that mysticism provides the structural basis for Obama’s perception of reality and presents options for reactions to an international crisis.