This is an excerpt from a speech by Senator Barack Obama - New Hampshire PrimaryTuesday, January 8th, 2008 Nashua, New Hampshire

My comments on the persuasive power of this are in (bold).

We've been asked to pause for a reality check. (This is an indirect suggestion to "pause" i.e., to stop thinking or rationalizing) We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. (:"We" implies a "you and me" thus uniting us. From our detached "pause" we can look at the concept of false hope.)

But in the unlikely story that is America, ("unlikely" allows us to feel unique and special as Americans, linking us to the myth of a people who thrive against all odds) there has never been anything false about hope. (This is a different use of the words "false" and "hope" and reframes "false hope" in a new way) For when we have faced down impossible odds (these impossible odds are unmentioned but assumed and affirms that we are unique) ; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.

Yes we can.(A call to action but even more; a call to rebellion against those who try to discourage us.)

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.(Evocation of "destiny"; that we are the central figures around whom great things can occur.)

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights.(Offering anecdotal evidence to support our rebellion against any oppressor.)

Yes we can.(Repetition. Hammer it into the mind and link it with powerful and positive emotions.)

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness. (More strong images of perseverance against security and reason.)

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land. (Wow! This one is POWERFUL! Without stating who the "King" is it providing clues of "mountaintop" and "the Promised Land" and he allows us to connect the dots on our own. This makes us to feel as if we have knowledge of an inner secret.)

Yes we can to justice and equality. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can repair this world. Yes we can. (Powerful use of repetition.)

And so tomorrow, as we take this campaign South and West; (in itself this brings people back to earth... to the reality of the campaign. This would be bad if it were not for the preceding emotional high we've been brought to) as we learn that the struggles of the textile worker in Spartanburg are not so different than the plight of the dishwasher in Las Vegas; that the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; (This creates the feeling of bonding between different people. A feeling that we are not so different from one another.) we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, (Providing three ways of saying "we are one people" and thus clobbering us with repetition again) we will begin the next great chapter in America's story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea ("coast to coast; from sea to shining sea" evokes patriotic memories of the song "God Bless America" ... all without saying it explicitly!) – Yes. We. Can.

(Yes, we can! There is little more persuasive than a simple phrase repeated and instilled with emotion. It is the same effect that Hitler used with "Zieg Hail!" and Martin Luther King with "I have a dream.")