President Obama pursuades America to follow him by first presenting a need for himself. He talks about the crisis and then uses inspirational solutions such as banding together to hopefully inspire America to follow him. I believe that his whole speech was meant to fill the souls of Americans with a sense of urgency and inspiration. He talks about what "free men and women" have done in the past and tells America to remember its heroes that protected American liberty to instill a can-do mindset. It is apparent that he wants all Americans to know that they can do it ("it" being reform America and make it better). He ends his speech by hitting an emotional part of Americans as he talks about "our childens' children". Every person wants their grandchildren to respect them and Obama uses this fact to hopefully draw more people to his side.