"Obama's Speech at Selma, 2015"

Question

by Barack Obama

Of course, our democracy is not the task of Congress alone, or the courts alone, or even the President alone. If every new voter-suppression law was struck down today, we would still have, here in America, one of the lowest voting rates among free peoples. Fifty years ago, registering to vote here in Selma and much of the South meant guessing the number of jellybeans in a jar, the number of bubbles on a bar of soap. It meant risking your dignity, and sometimes, your life.

What’s our excuse today for not voting? How do we so casually discard the right for which so many fought? How do we so fully give away our power, our voice, in shaping America’s future? Why are we pointing to somebody else when we could take the time just to go to the polling places?

Remarks by President Barack Obama at the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Marches

Question
Use the passage to answer the question.

Which choice best analyzes how the rhetorical questions in the second paragraph of the excerpt advance the speaker’s point of view or purpose?

(1 point)
Responses

They prompt listeners to realize that exercising voting rights was once more difficult.
They prompt listeners to realize that exercising voting rights was once more difficult.

They develop the argument that there are few legitimate justifications for not voting.
They develop the argument that there are few legitimate justifications for not voting.

They highlight the idea that voting is an essential right that is simple to exercise.
They highlight the idea that voting is an essential right that is simple to exercise.

They encourage listeners to evaluate and identify their reasons for not voting.
They encourage listeners to evaluate and identify their reasons for not voting.

Answer 1

The choice that best analyzes how the rhetorical questions in the second paragraph of the excerpt advance the speaker’s point of view or purpose is:

They develop the argument that there are few legitimate justifications for not voting.

This choice effectively captures the essence of Obama's rhetorical questions, which challenge the audience to reflect on their reasons for not exercising their voting rights and imply that those reasons often lack validity, especially in light of the historical struggles for voting rights.