In America, the presidency has become known as the "rhetorical presidency", because the American presidency has become little more than a tool to spread rhetoric for the common,non-politically-engaged citizen, and persuade them to support the presidency. In order to persuade citizens that the government's actions and objectives are necessary, the president must work up emotions like national pride, anger, fear, and etc. The main tools for this is rhetoric. My artifact shows an example of the rhetoric presidency through Ronald Reagan. Despite the plethora of negative things he did for America, particularly his decisions in foreign policy, he is viewed as a great president. This is because he was very successful in using rhetoric to ease the American population and gloss over anything that could cause great controversy.
This relates to the concept of the melodramatic imagination because it plays with emotional appeal and sensationalism. This is significant because it is important to know how the presidency is ran and how it maintains the approval of the us population.