The Affordable Care Acts One key theme of the 2012 presidential election contest was the Affordable Care Acts, which are also known as “health care reform” or, for those opposing this legislation, “Obamacare”. Both major political parties made it a central issue in their 2012 presidential campaigns. During this course, you have explored ways that political actors have framed their messages in their efforts to persuade, acclaim, attack or defend their position when communicating with others. Two key ways that the major political parties, and their nominees, sought to persuade the public about their position on the Affordable Care Acts was through their party platforms and in the candidates’ nomination acceptance speeches. In this module, you will compare the two party platforms, and the two acceptance speeches, focusing on how the Affordable Care Acts were portrayed. You will also reflect on how the messages found in each document seek to persuade, acclaim, attack or defend the positions taken by the party or candidate, and the opposing party or candidate. In this module you will: Content analyze two political speeches and two party platforms and reflect on those documents through a political psychology lens as presented in BW Conclusion. Please do the following: A) Read the 2012 major party platforms The Democratic Party platform may be found at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/papers_pdf/101962.pdf
The Republican party platform may be found at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=101961
B) Read transcripts of the 2012 nomination acceptance speech by each major party candidate:
President Obama’s acceptance speech may be found at: http://www.npr.org/2012/09/06/160713941/transcript-president-obamas-convention-speech
Governor Romney’s acceptance speech may be found at: http://www.npr.org/2012/08/30/160357612/transcript-mitt-romneys-acceptance-speech
C) Read BW Conclusion Then do this: Write an essay that compares the party platforms and the nomination acceptance speeches focusing on how each party and candidate portrays the Affordable Health Care Acts. It is important to compare both platforms and both speeches, as well as to compare the platforms to the speeches from the same party (it will be interesting to see how the party and the candidate from that party address the same issue). After that, reflect on what you perceive to be the strongest and weakest arguments put forward by each party or candidate, and what you perceive makes those arguments weak or strong. What do you perceive to be the most effective messages put forward? Write an essay (750-800 words) that responds to the writing prompt and utilizes material from BW Conclusion for reflection. Grading and Evaluation:
Grading:
Your essay will be graded on content, grammar, punctuation and usage. Note the word count of your essay. Information on point allocation is found in the rubric below.