I like how Bitzer showed that it is up to the speaker to decide whether or not to make a rhetorical situation out of any situation. The speaker may be compelled to do so out of exigence, but none the less, it is their decision. The speaker may be presented with a situation that is worthy of making a rhetorical situation, but they may not due the audience's stance or intelligence. like Aristotle said, there is no use wasting you words on lost causes (that quote is paraphased a lot).
Obama had an opertune time to make is Ramadan dinner a rhetorical situation. He was surrounded by ilsamic leaders and also had a pressing issue at hand with the mosque in manhatten. Obama could have gone on with the dinner, but he decided to speak about the mosque. Why not? He had an audience that would like the comments he was about to make so it was a win-win situation. Others had been waiting on him to comment so he commented on the mosque at a time where it would be most worth his comment. Obama turned a regular dinner into a rhetorical situation by seeing that he had the best opportunity to comment on an important event and to an audience that would appreciate it.
I agree completely. The speaker should make the decision on whether or not to make the situation rhetorical. Even though I do not care for Obama I have to agree with him on the way he handled his situation it was for the best to make his comments while he was in good company and had support.
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