Ethos, Pathos, Logos Analysis- Busche

Bradyn Busche October 16, 2012 ENG101- Dawn Diprince Ethos, Pathos, and Logos References in Article Ross Douthat uses much ethos in his article, “Why Obama is Winning,” to supporting his claims throughout the piece. He references items such as Don Peck’s book, “Pinched,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Rhonald Brownstein, President Obama, Mitt Romney, and a Junior White House Official. All these references are aspects of the paper that are possibly the most important. They are used in order make the article more credible and create a more persuasive argument to the reader. Without these references the paper would hardly even noticed by the general public and would bring shame to the company that published it, in this case The New York Times. Douthat uses pathos minimally in this article due to the fact that the writer’s purpose was to inform, and had little room for emotional appeal. Therefor Douthat had to appeal to the audience with ethos, which is nearly impossible, but I found that he did quite well through the use of formatting, diction and structure. What little pathos he did use included asking the reader a rhetorical question such as ‘Why is this?’ He also relates Republicans and Democrats by their assumptions about Mitt Romney’s campaign strategy. The author also uses logos in a way that supports his statements in the most powerful way possible. He begins by stating the dip in unemployment rate as 8.3% today, then follows it with the second quarter growth which both support President Obama and the article over all. He also states that the unemployment rate has gone down to 8.1%, just as predicted by the Junior White House Official, which also shows that Obama and his party knows that they are doing and what they are talking about. Using logos in a structural form as Douthat did, to me, seems incredibly affective in a way that couldn’t have been done any other way.