President Obama addressed the nation on September 10, 2013 to discuss an attack on Syria for its use of chemical weapons. The situation in Syria has been brewing for several years and now has come to a crisis. President Obama's goal is to persuade the American public to agree with his decision to act on this critical situation through his strategic layout of information; He explains why we must act, lists what his possibilities are, and refutes arguments made against acting. Through this structure Obama tries to persuade Democrats, Republicans, and international audiences.
	
While President Obama explains why the United States must be involved in this situation, he strategically places sentences to convince the American public that we must act in Syria. He first explains what has happened in Syria and uses heart rendering imagery: "...men, woman, and children lying in rows, killed by poison gas, others foaming at the mouth, gasping for breath, a father clutching his dead children, imploring them to get up and walk." Obama uses the imagery to tug at the emotions of the audience, especially the emotions of mothers and fathers. This emotion implores the audience to feel sympathy for those who were affected by this attack, thus giving them a motive for action against the Assad regime. President Obama uses this to his advantage in the beginning to grab the attention of the audience and keep them in an anticipatory state of mind for the rest of his speech. Obama starts with emotion not only to appeal to the audience, but to prepare them for Obama's plan of action. 
	
Obama later states a fact for those who are not sympathetic towards Syria's people, "And in 1997, the United States Senate overwhelmingly approved an international agreement prohibiting the use of chemical weapons, now joined by 189 governments that represent 98 percent of humanity." He uses this statement after the imagery to appeal to those who think logically and not emotionally. He puts this statement after the emotional one because those who do not trust government will need the facts to agree on an issue. Here he is not only talking to the American public, but he is calling out other governments and nations that agreed with prohibiting the use of chemical weapons. At this point in his speech he is not only talking to the United States; he is also addressing the international community. He does this before he introduces what the United States is going to do because he wants the other nations to know what the United States in capable of and use this situation to be the example.

President Obama then announces his plans for addressing the situation in Syria: a targeted military strike. According to Obama, "...it is in the national security interests of the United States to respond to the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons through a targeted military strike."  He dives right into what the military will do. This is interesting because he does not state the peaceful route first. This strategy is used to show the strength of the United States and the severity of the issue. Part of his audience will like that the United States is finally acting like a leader and not tolerating this behavior, but others will disagree. The military families, which are part of his audience, will disagree with Obama and his plan. With that in mind he wants the military families to focus on what he talks about next. 

The peaceful route is encouraging to the United States and the international audience. President Obama describes this route as having "the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force." This route includes Russia, who is a close ally with Syria, and the good is to encourage Assad to give the chemical weapons to the UN Security Council so that the weapons will be destroyed. A larger part of his audience will likely support the peaceful route especially military families because these families are tired the United States being involved in war. Here Obama is persuading all audiences that he will pursue all peaceful routes until military action is needed. He placed the peaceful path after his targeted military strike because that is what he wants his fellow Americans to take away from his address. This way the audience a can put the military strike in the back of their minds and know that he is searching for a passive solution. If he had spoke about the peaceful solution first the address would lose the strength and cohesion. The intimidation factor would fade and Obama would be perceived as weak; With this path placed after the military strike he does not lose the intimidation factor, but audience will have peace knowing that Obama is not looking for another war.

President Obama then takes an interesting turn in his speech. After he explains the military and diplomatic options for action, he answers some questions from the audience. Letters from American citizens and concerns from Congress have questioned the United States involvement in Syria. Obama does this because it ensures the audience that he has thought about this situation carefully and looked at opposing views. He directly answers the questions of concerned citizens to display that he has read the concerns of American citizens. He does this after he explains the options because he wants to be more personable to his audience. This structure supports the strength that he has implemented earlier and is a strategic persuasive tool. 

He starts by saying, "Many of you have asked..." This shows the audience that Obama really has thought about the American public. He cares about the future of this nation, but he does not want the United States to just sit back and watch as the Assad regime gains momentum. The question and answer section of his speech is important to his audience because it became a conversation between him and his audience. Obama can do this because of the strength in the beginning of his address. If he had started with this conversation his speech may seem redundant, weak, and confusing to the audience. With his strategic layout he has created a strong conversation between him and American citizens.

The layout of the entire address is not solely considered when writing this speech. The word use and sentence structure are considered; For example when a member of Congress asked if a pinprick military strike will do anything to intimidate the Assad regime to give up their chemical weapons. President Obama said in his address that, "Even a limited strike will send a massage to Assad that no other nation can deliver." This is encouraging to the audience because it assures them that we have a stronger military than Assad's military. Those who are watching internationally might feel intimidated by this statement because the leader of the most powerful nation in this world is pressuring another nation. That sense of authority over other nations comes from the word choices within the answer. An example of word choice is the word limited because it implies that the United States is able do far worse. One example of a phrase is "no other nation can deliver" because this implies that other nations are inferior in power when compared to the United States. The word and phrase choices were strategically made by Obama when writing this speech. 

In the end President Obama implores his audience to come together in this critical situation and take away a threat in this world. The protests that have merged into a chemical weapon war in Syria and has changed the dynamic of the United States' involvement. Because of the chemical weapons used by the Assad regime the United States is pursuing ways to obtain the chemical weapons. Obama's efforts in his address described what happened in late august. In the organization of his address to the nation he explained why we must act in this critical situation, what plans are in place and answered uncertainties that the audience has. President Obama uses this structure to persuade his audience in his address on Syria.

