2013

Student: Kinga Gyorfi Student no.: 202RE Discipline: Discourse Theory UBB, FSE, RISE 3 ENG 15th May 2013

Analysis of Michelle Obamas Discourse in the light of E. laclau and Ch. Mouffe

Abstract: The essay provides a concise theoretical basis about Discourse Theory in order to understand and to emphasize the framework and the used methodology. The second part it is subject to the empirical research and it represent the critical analysis of a sample discourse of Michelle Obama, namely the one delivered at the Democratic National Convention in 2012 applied by the instrumentality of the above mentioned theory. The purpose of the paper is to provide an analysis that is based on a particular theory, and thus to enhance the presence of the 5 arguments of E. Laclau and Ch. Mouffe in the speech of the political discourse-provider, namely Michelle Obama.

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1. Introduction The contemporary modern politics pursued in the context of democracy is increasingly focused more on the political actor, on the personality or the image it generates; putting into obscurity ideas, ideology or political institutions. Modern politics is enhanced by the image of that, which holds the power. Another times, politics meant ideas. Today, politics is people. Or rather characters. Every leader seems to choose a function and to assume a role, just like in a show .1 The current trends of political reconfiguration are involving a process of personalization, within which are emphasized the personal sources of power, namely attributes and personality traits of the politicians, aspects that give shape to the activity of the political leader2. The emotional investment of the political actor in a certain issue is affecting all the aspects that perpetrate the achievement of a situational diagnosis and the outlining of a remedy. Another trend of modern politics might be considered the rise of the women-politician, as the configuration of world politics is increasingly encompassing more female characters. The global arena of politics had an abundant debut in terms of positioning women at the forefront of politics, starting with iconic figures like Margaret Thatcher, Eva Pern, Benazir Bhutto and Dilma Rousseff as Brazil's first female president; Cristina Fernndez de Kirchner - Argentina's president - being the first woman succeeding her husband at the presidency; Jhanna Sigurardttir being Iceland's first female prime minister and the first premier that married a person of the same sex; Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf - President of Liberia debuting as the first black female president in the world and the first woman in Africa as head of state; Angela Merkel - the first woman chancellor in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, qualified four times in a row by Forbes as the most powerful woman in the world 3. Recently, the United States recorded significant progress towards women's

1 2

Roger-Grard Schwartzenberg, Claudiu Coman. Sfera public i imaginea politic, Bucureti: Editura C.H. Beck, 2010. p. 31

Andrei Gheorghi, Lideri politici i construcia deciziei de vot, Iai: Institutul European, 2010, p. 29
3

Andreea Paul (Vass), Fora politic a femeilor, Iai: Polirom, 2011, pp. 368 378

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rights and representation, New Hampshire being the first state in Congress that sent a delegation of representatives composed exclusively of women.4 Another form of involvement of women in public life that conveys a significant impact on society is the position of the First Lady. In the American culture it has a substantial role both in her husband's career and serving as a role model in the life of the nation. Clearly, the role of the First Lady as the hostess of the White House includes classic aspects such as appearances at certain ceremonies or chairing official dinners, but she must also illustrate a model of activism, fighting to overcome social issues. 5 Whether they decide to run for a public office, as Hillary Clinton, or not, the history of First Ladies of America is marked by some remarkable personalities, having a trendsetter role, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Jacqueline Kennedy, Rosalynn Carter and Michelle Obama, the latter being the first African American women in this position. But what makes Michelle Obama remarkable is how she transcended the low expectations set for women and blacks to become an Ivy Leagueeducated lawyer and hospital executive, while clinging to the values of her working-class upbringing: candor about lifes hard truths and the overarching importance of family. 6 Discourse Theory serves as basis, as a tool for the understanding of the intensions of the discourse producer. Discourse is not limited only to the text itself, but has different poses, just like a historical monument, "Lieu de memoire", a certain policy, a political strategy, narrow or wide narratives, texts, speeches, conversations on a particular topic and language. The political discourse can take a wide range of forms, among which the discourse of legitimacy; ideological discourse; doctrinal discourse; official or contesting discourses; discourses with defensive or attacking
Bassett, Laura (2012), New Hampshire Elects First All-Women Delegation [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/new-hampshire-elects-allwomen_n_2086133.html], 9 May 2013 5 Caroli, Betty Boyd., First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010 6 David Olive, An American story: the speeches of Barack Obama, Toronto: ECW Press, 2008, p.
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characteristics, nationalist, populist, elitist, technocratic, pragmatic or normative discourses , oriented towards the masses or sent to a specialized public, direct or indirect, or articulated within a campaign [4]. The above mentioned facts represent the reasons why this paper came into existence, and namely to interpret how Discourse Theory, and even more precisely how Laclau and Mouffes key arguments can be identified in political figures discourses. In the first part of the essay a concise theoretical basis will be provided in order to understand and to emphasize the framework and the used methodology. The second part it is subject to the empirical research and it represent the critical analysis of a sample discourse of Michelle Obama, namely the one delivered at the Democratic National Convention in 2012 applied by the instrumentality of the abovementioned theory. The final part will assemble the result of the analysis and assert the conclusion of the paper on a deductive basis.

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2. Discourse analysis in the eyes of E. Laclau and Ch. Mouffe Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffes work was ispired by the Gramscian critique of structural Marxism and aimed to develop a theory for a plural and more radical democracy that will avoid the pitfalls of the Marxist theory and its assumed closeness and essentialism impregnated with the danger of totalitarianism. 7 The Gramscian ideas provided Laclau and Mouffe with inspiration and analytic categories in their attempt to fight what they thought of as the essentialist tenets of Marxism, like economism (epiphenomenalism and class reductionism) and class consciousness, and develop their alternative political project based on the concept of hegemony. 8 Having demonstrated the essentialist character of Marxist theory and that hegemony for Marxists was a politically authoritarian response to the problem of contingency, Laclau and Mouffe (1985) went on to develop their own democratic theory of hegemony. To do so they drew on poststructuralist philosophy, Lacanian psychoanalysis and the linguistic philosophy of the later Wittgenstein, developing, in this way, a discursive approach that led them to the conclusion that the external world is discursively constructed and nothing has a meaning outside discourse.9 Laclau and Mouffe developed five key arguments of the discipline Discourse Theory that can be found in every discourse of the political figures: discourse background, hegemonic struggles, social antagonism, dislocation of discourse and the final argument, split subject that is emerged due to the dislocation of discourse.10

Jules Townshend, 1999 ; 2002a Jules Townshend, 1999 ; 2002a 9 Mihalis Mentinis, Zapatistas, London: Pluto Press, 2006, p. 38 10 Jacob Torfing, Discourse Theory: Achievments, Arguments and Challanges in: David Howarth and Jacobs Torfing (eds.), Discourse Theory in European Politics, Identity, Policy and Governance , Palgrave Macmillian, pp. 14-16.
7 8

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3. Analysis of Michelle Obamas discourse

3.1 The discursive Background The first argument of Laclau and Mouffe states that all forms of social practices take place in a background of historically specific discourses, and therefore it should be taken into account in the analysis also the context, namely the discursive background. The affirmations we make are constantly influenced by different interactions, such as thoughts, speeches and actions. The discursive background is constructed either in terms of equivalence or in terms of difference, due to the fact that individuals construct the representation of the world throughout a binary system: preference and avoidance, good and bad, what exists and what not, etc. The discourse that is subject to our analysis is called "How hard you work" and was sustained by the First Lady of America on the occasion of the Democratic National Convention, held during 4-6 September, 2012 in Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina . The Democratic National Convention, being an event with tradition, is held every four years, and its an opportunity to harmonize the party and also represents the nomination and legitimizing of the duo-candidates in the national elections of the United States of America. Basically, the event is an alloy of forces, a series of speeches in support of candidates submitted by the top leaders of the party, but also of other image vectors, from TV stars to fervent supporters. The climax point of the convention starts with the acceptance speech of the nominated candidate, the last two conventions starring Barack Obama as the protagonist. The rhetoric performance of the First Lady lasted 25 minutes and it was considered the culmination of the first day of the convention, being presented with enthusiasm by the penultimate speaker, Elaine Brye, a teacher from Ohio, mother of four youngsters, who serve their country in the U.S. armed forces. In light of the above mentioned facts, Michelle Obamas discourse is perhaps the second most powerful moment of the

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convention, after Obama's acceptance speech, the first lady being the most prominent image vector of the candidate: Overwhelmingly, Michelle Obama has been an asset to her husbands campaign: a symbol of grit and grace under the everyday pressures of caring for an extended family "11 The essence of the discourse is the legitimacy of Barack Obama as President of the United States; the whole speech was a plea for the most powerful leader of the world, focusing on the contribution that has brought to the United States progress through work and motivation and imperative for a new mandate to translate into reality the vision of what America could become. The central theme of the discourse is the work and the ongoing effort to meet the social problems faced by the American citizens. In this context, the fundamental message of the discourse is that: [] how hard you work matters more than how much you make. 3.2 The hegemonic struggle Our discourses are constructed through hegemonic struggles that wish to install a political and intellectual leadership. This leadership is established through a certain articulation of meaning and identities. In other words, the objective is to be hegemonic, and in order to do it there are struggles; struggles among different representations of reality. These representations of reality are themselves the result of a certain articulation of what we are (identity) and what we believe in (meaning). The argument that Michelle Obama offers to the public to justify the necessary measures taken for the economic recovery, is that in critical situations, none of the response is optimal, and what generates decisions are not statistics, figures and expert advisors, but a different pragmatism provided by the internal resources - values that guide your existence, vision and experience: The issues that come across a Presidents desk are always the hard ones. You know, the problems where no amount of data or numbers will get you to the right answer. The judgment calls where the stakes are so high and
11

David Olive. An American story: the speeches of Barack Obama, Toronto: ECW Press, 2008, p. 84

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there is no margin for error. And as President, you are going to get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people, but at the end of the day when it comes time to make that decision as President, all you have to guide you are your values and your vision and the life experiences that make you who you are. Among the new trends of modern liberalism is the public and universal access to health care, the president's wife emphasizing his strength of character; that he was not afraid to tackle such a delicate subject: When it comes to the health of our families, Barack refused to listen to all those folks who told him to leave health reform for another day, another president. He didnt care whether it was the easy thing to do politically. No, that is not how he was raised. He cared that it was the right thing to do. [] And no one in this country should ever go broke because of an accident or an illness. Another mark of modern liberalism is the Golden Rule promoted by the U.S. President, which states that the United States can evolve exploiting the principle of mutual respect: We learned about honesty and integrity. That the truth matters. That you dont take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules. And success doesnt count unless you earn it fair and square. We learned about gratitude and humility. That so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean. And we were taught to value everyones contribution and treat everyone with respect. By projecting thoughtfully their identity and the values they believe in, Michelle creates the impression that they are the ideal candidate for the dominant position within the hegemonic struggle.

3.3 antagonism the liberal discourse Processes of articulation, of meaning and identity, are linked to the construction of social antagonism. Social antagonism is rather simple and binary, as it is based on the exclusion of the threatening other. In discursive terms: the threatening other is a different discourse that could be practically embodied by a rival group. In order to stabilize a particular representation

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of society it is necessary to produce an alternative to it. Such an alternative is the threatening outside, which generally has negative characteristics, and the entire social effort should be directed towards the exclusion of the threatening other.

Michelle Obama is the most powerful vector image of the President, being also the multiplier of his messages. Her speeches are pleading for Barack Obama's political ideas and for the qualities that recommended him for the presidency. Barack Obama is currently the most representative figure of the Democratic Party from the United States. The discourse that is resulting from this posture is oriented towards the interests of the U.S. citizen, it is centered on freedom-related issues, and it's presenting the main strategies for action in various fields: political, institutional, social, economic, cultural, etc. The democratic discourse opens the pathway for the debate between power and opposition, reflecting a clear and firm political orientation, with opportunistic tendencies such as "the winner takes all". The ideology of the Democratic Party encompasses modern liberalism, the latest trends in liberal discourse, including certain aspects such as women's reproductive rights (pro-choice), sexual minority rights, an universal health system as a competitive advantage of the Americans, multiculturalism as an affirmative action for reducing discrimination; emphasizing Obama's Golden Rule, namely mutual respect. As for the delimitation of the liberal discourse from the conservative one, the latter supports the principle of divine creation, while liberals affirm that at the formation of the state lays a set of principles of humanity, contained in the founding documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights. 12 However, liberal discourse is not excluding religion, especially when talking about Obama's discourse, the hope and faith are leitmotifs: [] and I think its time that we join a serious debate about how to reconcile faith with our modern, pluralistic democracy 13

Juraj Horvath. Critical Discourse Analysis of Obamas Political Discourse, p. 48 David Olive. An American story: the speeches of Barack Obama, Toronto: ECW Press, 2008, p. 169
12 13

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Also, the concept of freedom appears in the liberal discourse in terms of social and political rights of the individual; in other words the lack of interference of the state, church or other individuals in the lives and decisions of the individual. Moreover, the notion of justice is also highlighted within the liberal discourse, possessing the meaning of equality and affirmative action on the social level. Another discursive vector of liberal nature is capitalism; seen as a phenomenon that generates wealth and is in favor of the public well-being.
14

To configure the fundamental difference between the two ideologies is relevant Hunter's view, which holds that while cultural conservatives tend to define freedom from an economic perspective, as the economic initiative of the individual, and justice from a social perspective (as fair living); progressives tend to define freedom from a social perspective, as individual rights, and justice from an economic perspective".15 On the other hand, an idea that reflects the simplicity and values that were inoculated, may be interpreted as having a negative connotation, meaning that, although Obama dont speaks directly his campaign opponents name, Michelle suggests a contrast between their modest lifestyle that they have in comparison with wealthy life of Mitt Romney: You see, Barack and I were both raised by families that did not have much in the way of money or material possessions, but who had given us something far more valuable: their unconditional love, their unflinching sacrifice and the chance to go places they had never imagined for themselves. From this we can deduce the idea that the president can be reported, and can resonate more than his opponent with the average American citizen. Thus, although seemingly is an apolitical discourse, presents an implicit contrast between the values and experiences of Obama's life and those of Mitt Romney.

14 15

Idem Juraj Horvath. Critical Discourse Analysis of Obamas Political Discourse, p. 48

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Moreover, the key idea of the speech is potentiating Obama's presidency: Well today, after so many struggles and triumphs and moments that have tested my husband in ways I never could have imagined, I have seen firsthand that being president does not change who you are. No, it reveals who you are.

3.4 Dislocation of dominant discourses A dominant discourse becomes dislocated when it is confronted with events that it cannot explain. All discourses are limited and ultimately confronted with events that could destabilize them. All these discourses try to become elastic and to stretch in such a way that developments within society are integrated. The second candidacy of Barack Obama comes on the basis of the public approval rates (Job Approval) as the lowest among American presidents after the Second World War. According to official surveys implemented by Gallup 16, the average approval rate for the first term record 49.1%, placing Obama on the third place from the bottom of the ranking. Degradation of the capital of image is a classic phenomenon, which can be attributed to the decadence during his governance. If the case of President Barack Obama the drop in popularity is due to the fragile economic context that has generated difficult measures to the American society. One of the causes of the depreciation of image capital of the American president is the unemployment rate, which exceeded 10% in the first term (October 2009 10.1% 17). Only in the month when this discourse of Michelle Obama was sustained was recorded a significant progress related to the unemployment rate, which dropped for the first time during Obama's mandate under 8%, returning to the same level of his first term as
16

Jones, M. Jeffrey (2013), Obama Averages 49% Approval in First Term [http://www.gallup.com/poll/159965/obama-averages-approval-firstterm.aspx?utm_source=tagrss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=syndication], 7 May 2013 17 Rogers, John; Burn-Murdoch,John (2013), US jobless data: how has unemployment changed under Obama? [http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/oct/07/us-jobless-unemployment-data], 7 May 2013

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president, namely 7.8%18. However, Gallup presents a series of indicators that have undergone a positive development; indicators reflecting the optimism of Americans: economic confidence index, satisfaction towards the status quo, improvement of living standards etc.19 Overall, the figures show positivity towards the approval rate determined by the managing skills of the current president during situations of crisis. Thus, Obama's popularity among American citizens achieves a higher rate20 in response to his proper management of the disaster caused by Hurricane Sandy, but he reaches the peak of popularity after the quota of approval from October 2009 ; coinciding with his reaction to the massacre in Newtown , Connecticut.21The U.S. President attended and sustained a speech at the memorial service of the victims and then implemented a plan to combat violence caused by guns. Also, Barack Obama is recording an increase in support from both citizens and other political parties22, due to the elimination of the al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden, being considered a notable achievement in managing terrorism. If we take into consideration the fact that even if Barack Obama didnt managed to fulfill the promises that he made in his first term, and yet the Americans are optimistic and are continuing to visualize him as a hero. Even though the Americans became more skeptical, and even though they felt disappointed, they still wanted to believe in him. I might dare to say that he was re-elected due to his popularity, and because Americans have confidence in him. Michelle Obama became a part of the discourse; more precisely she constructed her discourse in such manner that she masked the fact that her husband didnt achieved the set objectives of the first term and she gave the exact reason that the Americans were waiting to
18
19

Idem

Newport, Frank (2012), Many Key Indicators Better Than When Obama Took Office [http://www.gallup.com/poll/157382/key-indicators-better-obama-took-office.aspx], 7 May 2013 20Leighton, Kyle (2012) Obamas Approval Rises In Superstorm Sandys Wake [http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/11/obama-approval-superstorm-sandy.php], 8 May 2013 21 Newport, Frank (2012), Obama Approval at 56%, Highest Since October 2009 [http://www.gallup.com/poll/159440/obama-approval-highest-october-2009.aspx], 8 May 2013 22 Jones, M. Jeffrey (2011), Obama Approval Rally Largely Over [http://www.gallup.com/poll/148046/Obama-Approval-Rally-Largely.aspx], 8 May 2013

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hear in order to believe in him, by illustrating that he is still a hero, but he just needs more time. The discourse of Barack Obamas first term was no longer viable in the second term, due to the fact that the circumstances have changed. The presidents first discourse, that was based more on aspects related to economic improvement, was not applicable anymore, due to the fact that he couldnt fulfill his promises, therefore there occurred a dislocation of discourse, that forced the presidential couple to change the discourse. As I mentioned earlier the discourse of Michelle is constructed in order to legitimize Barack Obama's candidacy and is a vehicle for the enhancement of his message. The discourse is legitimizing the measures and the political ideas of president Obama and supports the necessity for a new mandate in order to carry out his vision, his plan to lead America towards harmony and social justice, prosperity and security, through hard work and collective effort. Moreover, the president's wife does not miss the opportunity to emphasize the power, grandeur of U. S within the world and the uniqueness of the American spirit.

3.5 Split subject According to discourse theory the subject of discourse, the individual, will always emerge as a split subject. Discourse Teory is in this respect on the same line as Slavoj Zizek23, theorizing the political sphere as a sphere of less accomplished identity, or in other words; one of the key questions of social sciences was to search for an answer in order to find out the relation between the subject and the structure. This fifth argument emphasizes that all the subjects are split subjects, that there is no such thing as full identity integrated in a group or society, and that the promise of such an identity works as a mobiliser, pushing the individuals towards an increasingly radical political option. It is a matter of public control over the political forces inside to avoid a scenario where individuals are guided towards excluding and repressing specific minorities. All personal examples presented by the president's wife go to the core of the discourse linking biographical and political elements in an ingenious way:
23

Sergiu Miscoiu, Discourse Theory course, UBB FSE, Cluj-Napoca

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We learned about dignity and decency. That how hard you work matters more than how much you make. That helping others means more than just getting ahead yourself.24 Another ideological aspect present in the discourse of the First Lady is the rebuilding of the economy. Based on the power of example, it starts from the example of ordinary people, that are part of the working-class and shes emphasizing the example of her father and of the grandmother of Barack in order to justify economic measures taken by the president during his first term, on the basis of the economic crisis: Hes thinking about the pride that comes from a hard days work [] That is why he cut taxes for working families and small businesses and fought to get the auto industry back on its feet. Thats how he brought our economy from the brink of collapse to creating jobs again. Jobs you can raise a family on, good jobs.25 The liberal discourse had assigned a different valence to the concept of the American Dream, reflecting equal opportunities for all individuals. Michelle Obama supports the idea, but also promotes the idea of social mobility, the evolution of the citizen in the social hierarchy as a result of sustained effort, presenting the president as a role model even within the analyzed discourse: Barack knows the American dream, because he lived it" 26 All these carefully combined elements are meant to offer simple people the chance to believe again that they can live the American dream, that they can overcome the issues caused by economic factors. Michelle built her discourse on strong signifiers such as dignity, social responsibility, and on the other hand on the promise of a good life, as a result of hard work, therefore projecting an image of fulfillment, an image of a complete identity.

24

Obama, Michelle (2012), Transcript: Michelle Obama's Convention Speech [http://www.npr.org/2012/09/04/160578836/transcript-michelle-obamas-conventionspeech], 5 May 2013 25 Idem 24 26 Idem 24

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4. Conclusions The First Lady's speech at the Democratic National Convention is deeply personal, which relies on the power of example. Through the personal examples that she presents to the audience, Michelle Obama tries to justify the president's economic measures, to enhance the development of the United States during Obama's first term and to legitimize a new mandate in the service of America. The First Lady also portrays Obama as a politician devoted to his country, and as a political actor with vision and with principles, who did not hesitate to approach delicate subjects for the fear of losing capital image, and last but not least as a perfect husband and father. The First Lady leverages the symbol of "nation" and invites the public to exercise their democratic rights, to vote and to contribute to the evolution of the American society: Barack knows the American dream because hes lived it. And he wants everyone in this country, everyone to have the same opportunity no matter who we are or where we are from or what we look like or who we love. And he believes that when youve worked hard and done well and walk through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. No, you reach back and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed [] So today, when the challenges we face start to seem overwhelming or even impossible, let us never forget that doing the impossible is the history of this nation. It is who we are as Americans. It is how this country was built.27 Finally, Michelle Obama pleads for her husband's vision and invokes the American nation for accountability, namely throughout the re-election of Barack Obama, to achieve progress and social justice. She is finalizing her discourse in very strategic manner, by relying on relevant signifiers with the campaign slogan: Forward

27

Obama, Michelle (2012), Transcript: Michelle Obama's Convention Speech [http://www.npr.org/2012/09/04/160578836/transcript-michelle-obamas-conventionspeech], 5 May 2013

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[] then we must work like never before, and we must once again come together, and stand together for the man we can trust to keep moving this great country forward.28

28

Obama, Michelle (2012), Transcript: Michelle Obama's Convention Speech [http://www.npr.org/2012/09/04/160578836/transcript-michelle-obamas-conventionspeech], 5 May 2013

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Bibliography

Books:
1. 2. Andreea Paul (Vass), Fora politic a femeilor, Iai: Polirom, 2011 Andrei Gheorghi, Lideri politici i construcia deciziei de vot, Iai: Institutul European, 2010 3. Caroli, Betty Boyd., First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010 4. David Olive, An American story: the speeches of Barack Obama, Toronto: ECW Press, 2008 5. Jacob Torfing, Discourse Theory: Achievments, Arguments and Challanges in: David Howarth and Jacobs Torfing (eds.), Discourse Theory in European Politics, Identity, Policy and Governance, Palgrave Macmillian, 6. Jules Townshend, 1999 ; 2002a 7. Juraj Horvath. Critical Discourse Analysis of Obamas Political Discourse 8. Mihalis Mentinis, Zapatistas, London: Pluto Press, 2006 9. Roger-Grard Schwartzenberg, Claudiu Coman. Sfera public i imaginea politic, Bucureti: Editura C.H. Beck, 2010 10. Sergiu Miscoiu, Discourse Theory course, UBB FSE, Cluj-Napoca

Electronic sources:
11. Bassett, Laura (2012), New Hampshire Elects First All-Women Delegation [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/new-hampshire-elects-allwomen_n_2086133.html], 9 May 2013 12. Jones, M. Jeffrey (2011), Obama Approval Rally Largely Over [http://www.gallup.com/poll/148046/Obama-Approval-RallyLargely.aspx], 8 May 2013 13. Jones, M. Jeffrey (2013), Obama Averages 49% Approval in First Term [http://www.gallup.com/poll/159965/obama-averages-approval-firstterm.aspx?utm_source=tagrss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=syndica tion], 7 May 2013

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14. Leighton, Kyle (2012) Obamas Approval Rises In Superstorm Sandys Wake [http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/11/obama-approval-superstormsandy.php], 8 May 2013 15. Newport, Frank (2012), Many Key Indicators Better Than When Obama Took Office [http://www.gallup.com/poll/157382/key-indicators-better-obamatook-office.aspx], 7 May 2013 16. Newport, Frank (2012), Obama Approval at 56%, Highest Since October 2009 [http://www.gallup.com/poll/159440/obama-approval-highest-october2009.aspx], 8 May 2013 17. Obama, Michelle (2012), Transcript: Michelle Obama's Convention Speech [http://www.npr.org/2012/09/04/160578836/transcript-michelle-obamasconvention-speech], 5 May 2013 18. Rogers, John; Burn-Murdoch,John (2013), US jobless data: how has unemployment changed under Obama? [http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/oct/07/us-joblessunemployment-data], 7 May 2013