Abstrak

This research aims to explore the attitudes expressed by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in their political campaign speeches in New Hampshire Primary in 2008. It also aims to analyze how Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton source and amplify their attitude. Finally, this research’s goal is also to reveal the similarities and differences between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s appraisals.

The source of data of this research was two videos and the transcripts of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign speeches in New Hampshire Primary in 2008. Meanwhile, the data of this research were transitivity, modality,  attitudinal lexis, and nominal groups.

The results of this research show that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton express three kinds of attitude, namely: affect, judgment, and appreciation. They express their positive attitude when they align with the people they appraise or when they talk about their campaign and themselves which is a typical thing to do in a campaign speech. On the other hand, their negative attitude is expressed not only when they disalign with some parties, but also when they talk about other things. Barack Obama expresses his negative attitude to express his disappointment due to his defeat and criticize his campaign progress. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton expresses her negative attitude to remind the audience about their problems caused by Bush administration.

The results also show that both of them amplify their attitude which indicates that they are fully committed to the value position they are proposed in their attitude. However, Hillary Clinton also softens her attitude when she talks about her victory as she wants to be seen as a modest person. Furthermore, both of them express their monoglossic and heteroglossic expression of attitudes. Their expressions are monogloss when they thank or compliment others as those statements are unproblematic. Meanwhile, their expressions are heterogloss when their expressions are intended to challenge or fend off (dialogically contractive) Bush administration  and  build  solidarity or  get  closer  (dialogically  expansive)  to  the  other presidential candidates and the people who support them.

In conclusion, the research reveals that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has the same ideology based on their same background, Democratic Party, and that they have different ways to align with their audience. Also, it shows how they express their alignment and disalignment to the certain people to be used as their campaign.

Keywords : SFL, Appraisals, US Presidential campaign speeches, Political Speeches