Feminist rhetoric in Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s discourse [articol]

Abstract

November 8, 2016, marked the beginning of a new era in the American political setting. The Obama era was known as a period of great opening, minority friendly approach and liberal vision. Of the two candidates that were running for office in 2016, Hillary Clinton seemed to have the most similar approach to the now former president of the USA, Barack Obama; Clinton was framed as the de facto carrier and enforcer of Obama’s legacy. Feminist approaches are not gender determined; Obama himself has made a mark as a feminist leader. Clinton ran for the highest office as a pioneer of women’s representation in politics. The aim of this paper is to discover the similarities between Obama’s discursive style and Hillary’s approach. Through critical discourse analysis, we launch this research in order to emphasize gender negotiations, in terms of both content and style.