Obama hopes for a boost as Democrats gather in Charlotte for convention:
Three-day convention begins in North Carolina as president faces tougher re-election amid concern over struggling economy
Democrats are assembling in Charlotte, North Carolina, to re-nominate Barack Obama for the presidency, to sell him as the wise and humane alternative to Republican challenger Mitt Romney, a pitch that will be repeated endlessly over the next two months to an American electorate that is more politically divided than at any time in at least a quarter of a century.
As they watch the political stagecraft, there may be only one thing all Americans can agree on: deep concern over the struggling economy that has made only a halting recovery from the great recession and near meltdown of the US financial sector just before the nation's first African-American president took office three and a half years ago.
Through the course of the Democratic national convention this week, Obama and his party will be fighting Romney's argument that the president has failed and will only lead the country deeper into debt and economic despair. That was the Republican theme at their national convention last week in Tampa, Florida.
First lady Michelle Obama's speech on Tuesday night will be an early highlight of a three-day convention schedule that has drawn thousands of delegates to North Carolina, a state that Obama narrowly carried in 2008. Although he is no longer the fresh-faced newcomer who leveraged a short Senate career into an audacious run for the nation's highest office, he still can excite partisans, and Democrats were counting on massive numbers to pack a stadium for his acceptance speech on Thursday.
Obama set the tone for the Democratic gathering in Charlotte, declaring on Monday that Romney's governing prescriptions were something out of the past century.
"Despite all the challenges that we face in this new century, we saw three straight days of an agenda out of the last century. It was a rerun. You might as well have watched it on black-and-white TV," Obama told an audience of car workers in Toledo, Ohio.
In a USA Today interview, Obama accused Republicans of building their campaign around a "fictional Barack Obama" by wholly misrepresenting his positions and words. He singled out Romney's claim, widely debunked, that the Obama administration stripped a work requirement out of federal welfare laws.
Later on Monday, Obama made a eve-of-convention visit to the flooded Louisiana coast to console victims of hurricane Isaac. He vowed government officials would find out "what can we do to make sure it doesn't happen again".
At times like these, "nobody's a Democrat or a Republican, we're all just Americans looking out for one another", said the president, flanked by local and state officials from both parties, after inspecting some of the damage inflicted by the storm and consoling some of its victims.
Romney paid a similarly nonpartisan visit last Friday to the region but made no reference at the time to federal aid.
Obama has been and will be arguing that Romney brings nothing more to his quest for the White House than plans and policies that are a reprise of those employed by former Republican president George W Bush, on whose watch the recession began and the financial collapse occurred.
Most Americans still hold Bush responsible for the start of the economic difficulties afflicting the US, but they are split on which candidate is best equipped to return the country to growth.
Romney contends the president is a nice guy who has failed to make things better. The Republican candidate drew a line under that message in a statement on Monday, the US Labor Day holiday that celebrates workers and marks the unofficial end of the summer holiday season.
Romney said the holiday was "a chance to celebrate the strong American work ethic", but added: "For far too many Americans, today is another day of worrying when their next paycheck will come."
His convention behind him, Romney relaxed at his lakeside home in New Hampshire with his family. He has no campaign events scheduled during the Democratic convention, but plans to spend several days preparing for his three debates next month with Obama.
Democrats will formally renominate Obama and the vice-president, Joe Biden, on Wednesday. That is also when the convention hears from Bill Clinton, whose 1990s presidency is being trumpeted by Democrats as the last great period of economic growth and balanced budgets.
Democrats chose North Carolina for their convention to demonstrate their determination to contest the southern state in the presidential race. Obama carried the state by 14,000 votes in 2008, but faces a tough challenge this time given statewide unemployment of 9.6%, higher than the national rate of 8.3%.
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Three-day convention begins in North Carolina as president faces tougher re-election amid concern over struggling economy
Democrats are assembling in Charlotte, North Carolina, to re-nominate Barack Obama for the presidency, to sell him as the wise and humane alternative to Republican challenger Mitt Romney, a pitch that will be repeated endlessly over the next two months to an American electorate that is more politically divided than at any time in at least a quarter of a century.
As they watch the political stagecraft, there may be only one thing all Americans can agree on: deep concern over the struggling economy that has made only a halting recovery from the great recession and near meltdown of the US financial sector just before the nation's first African-American president took office three and a half years ago.
Through the course of the Democratic national convention this week, Obama and his party will be fighting Romney's argument that the president has failed and will only lead the country deeper into debt and economic despair. That was the Republican theme at their national convention last week in Tampa, Florida.
First lady Michelle Obama's speech on Tuesday night will be an early highlight of a three-day convention schedule that has drawn thousands of delegates to North Carolina, a state that Obama narrowly carried in 2008. Although he is no longer the fresh-faced newcomer who leveraged a short Senate career into an audacious run for the nation's highest office, he still can excite partisans, and Democrats were counting on massive numbers to pack a stadium for his acceptance speech on Thursday.
Obama set the tone for the Democratic gathering in Charlotte, declaring on Monday that Romney's governing prescriptions were something out of the past century.
"Despite all the challenges that we face in this new century, we saw three straight days of an agenda out of the last century. It was a rerun. You might as well have watched it on black-and-white TV," Obama told an audience of car workers in Toledo, Ohio.
In a USA Today interview, Obama accused Republicans of building their campaign around a "fictional Barack Obama" by wholly misrepresenting his positions and words. He singled out Romney's claim, widely debunked, that the Obama administration stripped a work requirement out of federal welfare laws.
Later on Monday, Obama made a eve-of-convention visit to the flooded Louisiana coast to console victims of hurricane Isaac. He vowed government officials would find out "what can we do to make sure it doesn't happen again".
At times like these, "nobody's a Democrat or a Republican, we're all just Americans looking out for one another", said the president, flanked by local and state officials from both parties, after inspecting some of the damage inflicted by the storm and consoling some of its victims.
Romney paid a similarly nonpartisan visit last Friday to the region but made no reference at the time to federal aid.
Obama has been and will be arguing that Romney brings nothing more to his quest for the White House than plans and policies that are a reprise of those employed by former Republican president George W Bush, on whose watch the recession began and the financial collapse occurred.
Most Americans still hold Bush responsible for the start of the economic difficulties afflicting the US, but they are split on which candidate is best equipped to return the country to growth.
Romney contends the president is a nice guy who has failed to make things better. The Republican candidate drew a line under that message in a statement on Monday, the US Labor Day holiday that celebrates workers and marks the unofficial end of the summer holiday season.
Romney said the holiday was "a chance to celebrate the strong American work ethic", but added: "For far too many Americans, today is another day of worrying when their next paycheck will come."
His convention behind him, Romney relaxed at his lakeside home in New Hampshire with his family. He has no campaign events scheduled during the Democratic convention, but plans to spend several days preparing for his three debates next month with Obama.
Democrats will formally renominate Obama and the vice-president, Joe Biden, on Wednesday. That is also when the convention hears from Bill Clinton, whose 1990s presidency is being trumpeted by Democrats as the last great period of economic growth and balanced budgets.
Democrats chose North Carolina for their convention to demonstrate their determination to contest the southern state in the presidential race. Obama carried the state by 14,000 votes in 2008, but faces a tough challenge this time given statewide unemployment of 9.6%, higher than the national rate of 8.3%.
- Democratic national convention 2012
- US elections 2012
- United States
- US politics
- North Carolina
- Barack Obama
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