Barack Obama’s rhetorical success is stylistically interesting insofar as it relies on ethos as much as on logos. In order to analyze Obama’s style, one needs to combine an internal, intertextual perspective which studies how the American liberal tradition was appropriated by Obama, and an external, sociolinguistic perspective, which pits Obama’s expressive style against the increasing professionalization of the political field. The article first discusses Obama’s rhetoric in the context of the American liberal tradition. It then moves on to the ethos of the competent black man which he strives to project. Finally, Obama’s style is seen as a response to the increasing professionalization of the contemporary American political field, which contrasts with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s classical liberal style and with the populist rhetoric of the maverick which conservative Republicans have often adopted since Ronald Reagan.