Extra Credit Blog

This video is of Oprah Winfrey giving a speech at the University of California in Los Angeles. In this speech, she endorses Obama and discusses why she is not voting based on race, age, or gender.



Obviously, Oprah has a gift for speaking, because she does so everyday on her show. Her speech about Obama, however, is much different than the way she usually speaks. Oprah maintains a good, slow pattern of speech throughout her speech and is sure to pronunciate her words. Often times, in this speech, she will repeat herself for emphasis, and this is especially effective.

The first thing I noticed while watching this video, is that the audience is in a circle around Oprah. If you think it is hard to maintain eyecontact during a speech in class, imagine having people all around you. Oprah does an excellent job of maintaining eye contact. She obviously has a set of notes because she refers back to them in order to quote someone, but she does not rely on them heavily. Many times in her speech, she turns completely around so she can see the whole audience.

The second thing that struck me about this speech, is that Oprah did an excellent job of identifying her audience. From what I saw, most of the audience was female, African American, or both. Oprah appeals highly to this demographic and she uses this speech as an opportunity to discuss why she is voting for Obama. She says it is not because she is African American and that she is not a traitor for not voting for a woman; she simply fallows what she knows to be true.

I think this was an excellent speech and I would expect nothing less from Oprah. I'm glad Oprah used her time at UCLA to discuss these topics so well.