Voicing Voicing is using the voice of another within a speech to create proximity and credibility. Obama quoted famous Americans, such as Martin Luther King Jr., and personal stories from everyday Americans, which helps the audience connect emotionally with the speech. Voicing is a powerful rhetorical device because the audience can engage in the speech by reacting through chants, cheers, and vocalizations Voicing changes the definitions of roles so that the speaker is not the only active participant. In a January 26, 2008 speech in South Carolina, Obama told three stories of a woman struggling to make ends meet, a man who cannot find work, and a woman who is waiting for her son to return from Iraq. Obama was able to borrow the voices of these Americans in his speeches, making himself the speaker of and an audience member to these stories. Other rhetorical devices Obama used in his campaign speeches were repetition, metaphor, personification, climax, and allusion. References Further reading Ferrara, Mark S. Barack Obama and the Rhetoric of Hope. McFarland Publishing, 2013. Kayam, O. "Obama's Message: An Examination of Political Rhetoric". Lambert Publishing, 2013. Kayam, O. "Transformative Rhetoric: How Obama Became the New Face of America. A Linguistic Analysis". Journal of Language and Cultural Education, 2(2), 2014. Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign Rhetoric