McCain v. Obama

Over the last week, my sociology class viewed the acceptance speeches of Barack Obama and John McCain. While reading both speeches we were asked to compare and contrast the parts in the speech. This includes words used, policies, and their biographies. Now I will attempt to compare and contrast these two speeches in order to provide a detailed analysis of both candidates.
Both candidates used a variety of words throughout the course of their speeches. For example Obama used McCain’s name a total of 21 times, while McCain used Obama’s name a total of 6 times. But McCain did refer to him without using his name. we were also asked to record how many times each candidate used the following terms; change, fight trust promise and Washington. Senator McCain used these words a total of 179 times. “I” was used 95 times while “promise” was used 4 times. Senator Obama used these words a total of 157 times. “I” was used 68 times while” fight” was used only 6 times.
Next we were asked to record the candidates views on certain issues. From I read the candidates had a lot of the same views and they differed on quite a bit. McCain wants to stop spending 700 billion dollars on foreign oil while Obama wants to spend 150 billion dollars in “affordable energy”. in my opinion 150 billion is not “affordable”. They also differed on what to do about the war in Iraq. McCain states that he wants to keep the troops in Iraq for as long as possible while Obama doesn’t want the war to continue, but he will finish what we have started.
The last item we were required to record was the biographies mentioned in both speeches. McCain first talked about his parents and grandparents and then switched to his involvement in the Vietnam War. While Obama talked mostly about his family and their backgrounds. In my opinion McCain focused on war to much in his biography, maybe he enjoys the subject, or he is trying to play of the countries pity toward him. Hoping that they will side with him because of his past. While Obama, I think, focused on his family rather well. He played on the idea of family and parental involvement. Which can really hit home with a lot of Americans. But in the end it will all come down to the personal opinions of each individual, and they will make the right choice.