Speeches by Robert Dole and George J. Mitchell, respectively the leaders of the minority Republican and majority Democratic parties in the United States Senate, will serve as examples of rhetorical situations for purposes of comparison. The speeches are both on the same subject, health care reform legislation, and both were delivered before the United States Senate on the same day, August 9, 1994. The speeches were both n response to two things--the general concern for health care reform that had been prevalent in the country for at least the previous year when President Clinton had placed the issue at the forefront of his legislative agenda, and the specific proposals that had been offered to Congress. The background of the health care debate will serve as an introduction to these two speeches offering different ideas about the debate and different views of the legislation that had been proposed.
Americans for some time have believed they are facing a crisis in health care marked by rising costs for providing health care along with an increase in the number of people who are either uninsured or under-insured. This problem was long ignored by policymakers, but within the last year or so, President Clinton put the issue in the forefront of political debate and spurred a flurry of suggestions. The administration put forward a health care plan, and the Republicans responded with a health care initiative of their own. Indeed, a number of different initiatives ha been offered by the time of the speeches on August 9, 1994, though none had as yet gathered sufficient support to be brought to a vote. The bill then being offered by Senator Mitchell was the occasion for this debate, and Mitchell sates in his speech that he welcomes the debate and that he believes his bill is a good starting point for the discussion. Inherent in both speeches is the subtext that this is an issue of import to the voter and that legislators had not addr...