President Barack Obama revisited the themes of hope and change which animated his previous campaign in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last night, telling Americans: “You were the change” and “I am hopeful because of you”.
The theme woven through Mr Obama’s speech last night has been a constant since he first came to notice at the 2004 convention.
He said then: “It’s that fundamental belief – I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper – that makes this country work.”
Mr Obama asked for time to make America a more just place, where “everyone gets a fair shot”.
When he said, “Madam chairwoman, delegates, I accept your nomination for President of the United States” the crowd broke into wild cheers of “Four more years. Four more years”.
The Time Warner arena in downtown Charlotte was filled to capacity and many supporters had to be turned away.
The tone was dignified and presidential, almost like a State of the Union address. It was nonetheless hard-edged, portraying the Republican challenger Mitt Romney as the champion of millionaires; Mr Obama as the defender of the middle class.
The President said government was neither the solution nor the source of all America’s problems.
He described his bailout of the auto industry and the creation of a half million manufacturing jobs as achievements. Vaunting his energy policy, he said that “unlike my opponent, I will not let oil companies write this country's energy plan, or endanger our coastlines, or collect another $4 billion in corporate welfare from our taxpayers”.
Mr Obama barely mentioned the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which Republican have vowed to repeal if Mr Romney is elected.
Harking back to the 2004 convention, Mr Obama said: “Eight years later, that hope has been tested – by the cost of war; by one of the worst economic crises in history; and by political gridlock that's left us wondering whether it's still possible to tackle the challenges of our time.”
Mr Romney has tried to turn the election into a referendum on the US economy. But Mr Obama reiterated his oft-stated belief that it represents “the clearest choice… in a generation”.
“Over the next few years, big decisions will be made in Washington, on jobs, the economy, taxes and deficits, energy and education, war and peace – decisions that will have a huge impact on our lives and our children’s lives for decades to come.”
The choice in November “will be a choice between two different paths for America,” Mr Obama said.
“A choice between two fundamentally different visions for the future.”
Mr Obama said he was fighting “to restore the values that built the largest middle class and the strongest economy the world has ever known… the basic bargain at the heart of America's story: the promise that hard work will pay off; that responsibility will be rewarded; that everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules”.
He stood for President “because I saw that basic bargain slipping away”.
The president shifted tone, referring sarcastically to “our friends down in Tampa at the Republican convention” who “want your vote, but … don't want you to know their plan”.
He turned Mr Romney’s policies into a medical joke, for which he received one of many standing ovations.
“All they have to offer is the same prescriptions they've had for the last thirty years,” Mr Obama said.
“Have a surplus? Try a tax cut. Deficit too high? Try another. Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations, and call us in the morning!”
More tax breaks for millionaires would neither create jobs nor lower the deficit, Mr Obama continued.
“After all we've been through, I don't believe that rolling back regulations on Wall Street will help the small businesswoman expand, or the laid-off construction worker keep his home. We have been there, we've tried that, and we're not going back. We are moving forward, America.”
Mr Obama stressed that change is difficult and takes time. In a signal to independent voters who might be tempted by Republican ideology, he said Democrats “should remember that not every problem can be remedied with another government program or dictated from Washington”.
“Our problems can be solved. Our challenges can be met. The path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a better place.”
If re-elected, he would “rebuild this economy on a stronger foundation”.
Contrasting his own policies with Mr Romney’s plans to “gut education”, Mr Obama promised to recruit 100,000 new math and science teachers in a decade and cut university fees.
When Mr Obama noted that he had kept his promise to kill Osama bin Laden, the crowd chanted, “USA, USA, USA”. Like Mr Romney, he promised to “sustain the strongest military the world has ever known”.
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan were “new” to foreign policy, Mr Obama said, “but from all that we've seen and heard, they want to take us back to an era of blustering and blundering”.
He faulted Mr Romney for calling Russia – rather than al Qaeda – the number one enemy, and noted that he had insulted “our closest ally” (Britain) during the Olympics.
Mr Romney also “said it was ‘tragic’ to end the war in Iraq” and, unlike Mr Obama, would not say how he would end the war in Afghanistan.
Mr Obama said he wanted to raise taxes on households earning over $250,000 – “the same rate we had when Bill Clinton was president” and promised that he would never go along with new tax breaks for the wealthy because “I refuse to ask middle class families to give up their deductions for owning a home or raising their kids just to pay for another millionaire's tax cut”.
The role of government is a core theme of the election.
“Over and over, we have been told by our opponents that bigger tax cuts and fewer regulations are the only way; that since government can't do everything, it should do almost nothing,” Mr Obama said.
He praised initiative but said: “This country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another, and to future generations.”
Mr Obama indirectly addressed conservatives’ claim that taxation and government violate freedom, saying “a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals”. America was about “what can be done by us, together”.
By electing him four years ago, Americans had made possible healthcare legislation, grants for education, clemency for immigrants and the end of discrimination against gays in the military.
“So you see, the election four years ago wasn't about me. It was about you… you were the change,” he said.
If Americans turned away now, “change will not happen…only you have the power to move us forward”, Mr Obama said.
If Americans “reject the notion that this nation's promise is reserved for the few… the notion that our government is forever beholden to the highest bidder, you need to stand up in this election”.
Americans must make the journey together, the president concluded.
“We don't turn back. We leave no one behind. We pull each other up.”
As Bruce Springsteen’s We take care of our own played over the loudspeakers, the First Lady and the Obama’s daughters Sasha and Malia joined the president on the stage, followed by the vice president and his wife, then other friends and family in a snowstorm of confetti.
