Analyzing the Discourse of Obama's New Year Messages to Iranians (2009-2010)

This paper aims to analyze the relationship between US President Barack Obama’s New Year messages to Iranians and his “change” motto and also to discuss the evolution of Obama’s discourse on Iran and the approach he has chosen to resolving the differences. Therefore, discourse analysis has been used to study Obama’s New Year messages to Iran. Analysis of his messages proves that like previous presidents of the United States, Obama’s discourse aims to maintain and strengthen the United States hegemonic power. In fact, Obama’s “change” only applies to methods that he uses to achieve those goals. Therefore, Obama’s discourse is an instance of Foucault’s interpretation of power relations which he believes are “purposive and without an actor,” and his discourse is actually shaped by objective conditions. Since Obama has the upper hand because of his discourse, he can use linguistic means to establish his dominant position. By banking on that dominant position, he can align the public opinion with his effort to take advantage of such means as control, pressure, and coercion.