Military interrogations have never been easy and direct, they are usually conducted in a "trust but verify manner”. That is why the phrases collective security, Strategic Concept, security challenges meaning "military alliance” and "military action plan” respectively are of vital necessity here. Many political matters are not fit topics for reporting, commentary and debate. The agenda must conform to elite requirements, generally set by state propaganda, though debate is permissible insofar as dominant elites disagree on tactical and procedural matters. Contemporary events must be reported and discussed in these terms, and historical memory must be shaped so that these doctrines are not called into question, or even considered controversial.

We have talked about how we will continue to strengthen our defense cooperation, and there are a wide range of areas where we are working together. [Remarks by President Obama and President Saakashvili of Georgia after Bilateral Meeting, January 30, 2012]

Military terms are usually harsh and diplomacy cannot afford harshness. That is why defense cooperation sounds better than the plain "NATO military alliance”. Defense (the act of protection) and cooperation (the fact of working together towards a shared aim) presuppose only positive perception and hide the concept of war aimed talk.

Beyond preventing a tax hike, we need to do a lot more to create an economy that's built to last. [Remarks by the President on the Veterans Job Corps, February 03, 2012]

The first and direct dictionary meaning of hike is "a long walk in the country”, something that keeps us away from the burdens of life and problems. Because when the government takes more of your money it rarely seems pleasant. Thus mentioning directly the tax increase will never gain the speaker's popularity.

The government is closing a loophole that allows private providers to be paid more. [Remarks by the President at Business Roundtable. - March 06, 2012]

To close loopholes is a euphemism for increasing taxes. In the example the euphemism performs a covering up function as politicians find it very difficult and inconvenient to speak about tax increases because it usually causes people's dissatisfaction and anger. That is the reason why they prefer the euphemism to close loopholes instead.

Preventive function involves the use of euphemistic words and expressions as an alternative to the old taboos that are still stored in the mind (euphemisms referring to human physiology, death, religious issues, etc.) [3; 28]:

For more than 60 years, NATO has proven itself as the most successful alliance in history. It's defended the independence and freedom of its members. It has nurtured young democracies and welcomed them into Europe that is whole and free. It has acted to end ethnic cleansing beyond our borders. [Press Conference of the President after NATO Summit, November 20, 2010]

Ethnic cleansing is a euphemism for the ruthless removal or killing of an ethnic or religious group from areas that have been taken over by opposing forces. The euphemism ethnic cleansing (cleansing here is a mild substitution for discrimination and killing) was first popularized by accused Serbian genocide mastermind Slobodan Milosevic and this euphemism is now applied to all sorts of massacres. Ethnic cleansing performs a preventive function because mass-murder is a taboo issue and politicians would be highly confused if they referred to it directly.

The concept of death has always been hushed in our society. There were three outstanding examples about the soldiers who died at war. To show respect and compassion Obama uses the following expressions:

Here, at Fort Hood, we pay tribute to thirteen men and women who were not able to escape the horror of war, even in the comfort of home. Later today, at Fort Lewis, one community will gather to remember so many in one Stryker Brigade who have fallen in Afghanistan. [Remarks of President Barack Obama - As Prepared for Delivery Memorial Service at Fort Hood, November 10, 2009]

Long after they are laid to rest - when the fighting has finished, and our nation has endured; when today's servicemen and women are veterans, and their children have grown - it will be said of this generation that they believed under the most trying of tests; that they persevered not just when it was easy, but when it was hard; and that they paid the price and bore the burden to secure this nation, and stood up for the values that live in the hearts of all free peoples. [Remarks of President Barack Obama - As Prepared for Delivery Memorial Service at Fort Hood, November 10, 2009]

So we say goodbye to those who now belong to eternity. We press ahead in pursuit of the peace that guided their service. May God bless the memory of those we lost. And may God bless the United States of America. [Remarks of President Barack Obama - As Prepared for Delivery Memorial Service at Fort Hood, November 10, 2009]

The English language contains numerous euphemisms related to dying, death, burial, and the people and places which deal with death. The practice of using euphemisms for death is likely to have originated with the magical belief that to speak the word "death" was to invite death; where to "draw Death's attention" is the ultimate bad fortune - a common theory holds that death is a taboo subject in most English-speaking cultures for precisely this reason.

Among Obama's favourite words detected from the text were tough, extraordinary and challenge. Tough (mentioned 35 times) is usually used in its first direct dictionary meaning "having or causing difficulties”. Here are some nice examples:

Despite a tough budget environment, our security assistance has increased every single year. [Remarks by the President at AIPAC Policy Conference, March 04, 2012]

Obviously this country has gone through as tough of a time as we've seen in my lifetime over the last two and a half years. [Remarks by the President at a DNC Event, August 11, 2011]

But in this tough economy, far too many of our veterans are still unemployed. That's why I've proposed a comprehensive initiative to make sure we're tapping the incredible talents of our veterans. And it's got two main parts. [Remarks by the President at 93rd Annual Conference of the American Legion, August 30, 2011]

Being shorter and more colloquial tough creates more positive meaning in the speech. First of all, it makes the speaker closer to the audience. And thanks to its additional meanings (confident and determined, not easily damaged, unfortunate), there is a touch of strength and unavoidance. Tough budget environment and tough economy have nothing to do with global crisis. Tough decision is not a hard decision any more. It becomes the only decision that could be made. Tough times are not difficult times - they are unavoidable and thus having little in common with the speaker. Most probably here the demarcation tactic was used.

What concerns the word "extraordinary" (mentioned 27 times), here things are much more complicated. The president's speeches are full of phrases like thanks to the extraordinary service, extraordinary call, extraordinary burden, extraordinary life, extraordinary Secretary, this last month and a half have been extraordinary, extraordinarily proud, extraordinarily blessed, extraordinary cooperation.

According to Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary extraordinary means "unexpected, surprising, strange, not ordinary”. But in none of the word combinations mentioned above this meaning will be suitable. By calling the secretary extraordinary he most probably meant some compliment which is beyond the advanced dictionary entry reach. Calling army service and the desire to serve in the army extraordinary might make some sense but we doubt whether he really meant it that way.

The most abundant in usage was the word "challenge" (mentioned 51 time) and its derivatives. According to Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary challenge means "something that needs a lot of skill, energy and determination to deal with or achieve, especially something you have never done before and will enjoy doing”. This word has a positive connotation.

After being transformed into its primary meanings (task and difficulty), it performs different functions. When it means "task”, the function is rhetoric or/and elevative:

The competition for jobs is real. But this shouldn't discourage us. It should challenge us. [Remarks by the President in State of Union Address, January 25, 2011]

It also means making sure that in the future we're not dragged down by long-term debt. This is a challenge that both parties have a responsibility to address - to get federal spending under control and bring down the deficits that have been growing for most of the last decade. [Remarks by the President on the Federal Employee Pay Freeze, November 29, 2010]

When it means "difficulty”, the function is concealing and/or conspiratorial:

These are challenging times for America, but we've faced challenging times before. [Remarks by the President on the Veterans Job Corps, February 03, 2012]

But we have to do more. These steps we've taken over the last two years may have broken the back of this recession, but to win the future, we'll need to take on challenges that have been decades in the making. [Remarks by the President in State of Union Address, January 25, 2011]

… NATO is fully united about the way forward and committing to addressing the full range of security challenges of this century. [Remarks by the President on the NATO Summit and the New START Treaty, November 19, 2010]

If we compare what Obama said before and after elections it looks like this:

Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of them. In that time, he's said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Senator McCain took office. [The American Promise Acceptance Speech at the Democratic Convention Mile High Stadium, Denver Colorado, August 28, 2008]

To reduce our dependency on foreign oil, we need to stop subsidizing oil companies that are already making record profits, and double down on clean energy, that creates jobs and creates opportunities in new industries but also improves our security, because we're not as dependent on foreign oil. [Remarks by the President on the Veterans Job Corps, February 03, 2012]

Being more complicated and thus less clear dependency sounds much more positive than addiction. The very first collocations that arise in an average mind are "drug addiction" and "alcohol addiction”. Thanks to such association a mere process of buying oil abroad acquires a very negative shade. While he was a candidate (or as he called himself a "nominee”) it was time for harsher words as he was not the part of the system engaged in the process. It is much easier to criticize when you stand aside. On becoming president Obama chooses words more carefully trying to express the disadvantaged position of the USA in foreign trade relations with oil producing companies.

We are unable to prevent the growth or usage of euphemisms because it is necessary, as our world changes, to unearth words and phrases that coincide with those alterations. ЇThe English language, wrote George Orwell, who is well known for condemning political euphemisms, Ї becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of the language makes it easier to have foolish thoughts. The problem is that the creation of euphemisms is designed for unconstructive rationale, as in politics, but we do not know how to reject the use. It is assumed that the function of language is to express thoughts and communicate information. Thus, what the listener anticipates, perhaps naively, is truthful communication [34; 260].

Political language is mostly pessimistic language by nature; consequently, euphemisms are crucial in concealing the rightful intention to negate importance, preventing people from understanding their true purpose, gain their unending support and maintain their undying respect. Euphemisms are therefore effective because they replace the offending word form by another word form that expresses the same (or similar) idea but that is not itself associated with a conditioned response. This allows the message to be communicated without eliciting an emotional response; if the population accepts a statement with passion, they are undoubtedly able to reject it with an equivalent fervor. Whatever the source, people search desperately through the clutter of politicians' speeches for items of sincerity as they listen to false impressions and repetition.

Conclusions