Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Obama asks for second term, says nation will recover

The economy was the focus of the President’s speech on the final day of the National Democratic convention, promising that challenges could be met if he was given four more years.

CONFETTI AND BRUCE Springteen music filled the arena as the Democratic National Convention concluded yesterday with President Barack Obama appealing to the nation for four more years and telling delegates that the journey ahead won’t be easy, but it will lead to a better place.

His re-election in doubt, President Barack Obama conceded only halting progress last night toward fixing the nation’s stubborn economic woes but vowed in a Democratic National Convention finale, “Our problems can be solved, our challenges can be met.”

“Yes, our path is harder — but it leads to a better place,” he declared in a prime-time speech to convention delegates and the nation, blending resolve about rescuing the nation from near economic catastrophe with stinging criticism of Republican rival Mitt Romney’s own proposals.

Widely viewed as reserved, even aloof, Obama acknowledged “my own failings” as he asked for a second term, four years after taking office as the nation’s first black president.

Citing progress toward recovery, he said, “After a decade that was defined by what we bought and borrowed, we’re getting back to basics and doing what America has always done best: We’re making things again.”

“Four more years,” delegates chanted over and over as the 51-year-old Obama stepped to the podium, noticeably grayer than he was as a history-making candidate for the White House in 2008.

(Image: David Goldman/AP)

First Lady Michelle Obama and the couple’s daughters, Malia and Sasha, joined the president on stage in the moments after the speech, followed by other family members and Vice President Joe Biden and his wife. Strains of “Only in America” filled the hall as confetti filled the air.

Obama’s speech was the final act of a pair of highly scripted national political conventions in as many weeks, and the opening salvo of a two-month drive toward Election Day that pits Obama against Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts.

Campaign funds

Not only economic proposals will settle a tight contest for the White House in a dreary season of economic struggle for millions, but also campaign cash.

There, Romney holds an advantage for sure. His campaign has purchased about $4.5 million in television advertising for the next several days, according to officials who track such spending. Obama, by contrast, emailed a fundraising appeal to supporters two hours before his convention speech.

Biden preceded Obama at the convention podium and proclaimed, “America has turned the corner” after experiencing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Obama didn’t go that far in his own remarks, but he said firmly, “We are not going back, we are moving forward, America.”

With unemployment at 8.3 percent, the president said the task of recovering from the economic disaster of 2008 is exceeded in American history only by the challenge Franklin Delano Roosevelt faced when he took office in 1933.

“It will require common effort, shared responsibility and the kind of bold persistent experimentation” that FDR employed, Obama said.

In an appeal to independent voters who might be considering a vote for Romney, he added that those who carry on Roosevelt’s legacy “should remember that not every problem can be remedied with another government program or dictate from Washington.

He said, “The truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over the decades.”

Republicans

The Romney campaign was dismissive as Democrats completed their convention.

“Americans will hold President Obama accountable for his record — they know they’re not better off and that it’s time to change direction,” Matt Rhoades, the challenger’s campaign manager, said in a statement.

In the run-up to Obama’s speech, delegates erupted in tumultuous cheers when former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, grievously wounded in a 2011 assassination attempt, walked onstage to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. The hall grew louder when she blew kisses to the crowd.

And louder still when huge video screens inside the hall showed the face of Osama bin Laden, the terrorist mastermind killed in a daring raid on his Pakistani hideout by U.S. special operations forces on a mission approved by the current commander in chief.

(Image: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

The hall was filled to capacity long before Obama stepped to the podium, and officials shut off the entrances because of a fear of overcrowding for a speech that the campaign had originally slated for the 74,000-seat football stadium nearby. Aides said weather concerns prompted the move to the convention arena, capacity 15,000 or so.

Obama’s campaign said the president would ask the country to rally around a “real achievable plan that will create jobs, expand opportunity and ensure an economy built to last.”

He added, “The truth is it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over a decade.”

In convention parlance, both Obama and Biden were delivering acceptance speeches before delegates who nominated them for new terms in office.

But the political significance went far beyond that — the moment when the general election campaign begins in earnest even though Obama and Romney have been pointing toward a Nov. 6 showdown for months.

To the cheers of delegates, Obama retraced his steps to halt the economic slide, including the auto bailout that Romney opposed.

“After a decade of decline, this country created over a half million manufacturing jobs in the last two and a half years,” he said.

Turning to national security, he said he had promised to end the war in Iraq, and had done so.

“We’ve blunted the Taliban’s momentum in Afghanistan, and in 2014 our longest war will be over,” he said.

“A new tower rises above the New York skyline, al-Qaida is on the path to defeat and Osama bin Laden is dead,” he declared, one of the night’s repeated references to the special operations forces raid that resulted in the terrorist mastermind’s demise more than a year ago.

He lampooned Romney’s own economic proposals.

“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,” he said.

Mocking Romney for his overseas trip earlier this summer, Obama said, “You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can’t visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally.” That was a reference to a verbal gaffe the former Massachusetts governor committed while visiting London.

Biden told the convention in his own speech that he had watched as Obama “made one gutsy decision after another” to stop an economic free-fall after they took office in 2009.

Now, he said, “we’re on a mission to move this nation forward — from doubt and downturn to promise and prosperity. … America has turned the corner.”

Delegates who packed into their convention hall were serenaded by singer James Taylor and rocked by R&B blues artist Mary J. Blige as they awaited Obama’s speech.

There was no end to the jabs aimed at Romney and the Republicans.

“Ask Osama bin Laden if he’s better off than four years ago,” said Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who lost the 2004 election in a close contest with President George W. Bush. It was a mocking answer to the Republicans’ repeated question of whether Americans are better off than when Obama took office.

The campaign focus was shifting quickly to politically sensitive monthly unemployment figures due out Friday morning and the first presidential debate on Oct. 3 in Denver. Wall Street hit a four-year high a few hours before Obama’s speech after the European Central Bank laid out a concrete plan to support the region’s struggling countries.

(Image: Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Economy

The economy is by far the dominant issue in the campaign, and the differences between Obama and his challenger could hardly be more pronounced.

Romney wants to extend all tax cuts that are due to expire on Dec. 31 with an additional 20 percent reduction in rates across the board, arguing that job growth would result. He also favors deep cuts in domestic programs ranging from education to parks, repeal of the health care legislation that Obama pushed through Congress and landmark changes in Medicare, the program that provides health care to seniors.

Obama wants to renew the tax cuts except on incomes higher than $250,000, saying that millionaires should contribute to an overall attack on federal deficits. He also criticizes the spending cuts Romney advocates, saying they would fall unfairly on the poor, lower-income college students and others. He argues that Republicans would “end Medicare as we know it” and saddle seniors with ever-rising costs.

After two weeks of back-to-back conventions, the impact on the race remained to be determined.

You’re not going to see big bounces in this election,” said David Plouffe, a senior White House adviser. “For the next 61 days, it’s going to remain tight as a tick.”

Romney wrapped up several days of debate rehearsals with close aides in Vermont and is expected to resume full-time campaigning in the next day or two.

In a brief stop to talk with veterans on Thursday, he defended his decision to omit mention of the war in Afghanistan when he delivered his acceptance speech last week at the Republican National Convention. He noted he had spoken to the American Legion only one day before.

Romney’s campaign released its first new television ad since the convention season began.

It shows Clinton sharply questioning Obama’s credibility on the Iraq War in 2008, saying “Give me a break, this whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen.” Obama was running against Hillary Rodham Clinton at the time for the Democratic nomination.

It will likely be a week or more before the two campaigns can fully digest post-convention polls and adjust their strategies for the fall.

Based on the volume of campaign appearances to date and the hundreds of millions of dollars spent already on television advertising, the election appears likely to be decided in a small number of battleground states. The list includes New Hampshire, Virginia, Ohio, Colorado, Nevada and Iowa, as well as Florida and North Carolina, the states where first Republicans and then Democrats held their conventions. Those states hold 100 electoral votes among them, out of 270 needed to win the White House.

Money has become an ever-present concern for the Democrats, an irony given the overwhelming advantage Obama held over John McCain in the 2008 campaign.

This time, Romney is outpacing him, and independent groups seeking the Republican’s election are pouring tens of millions of dollars into television advertising, far exceeding what Obama’s supporters can afford.

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
27 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jason Bourne
    Favourite Jason Bourne
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 7:34 AM

    Recover from what? Their deficit?

    They are now 16 trillion (Yes TRILLION – thats 16,000 Billion Dollars) in debt.

    They borrow froma private bank called the Federal Reserve. The only thing federal about it is it’s name.

    They create money out of thin air and lend it to the US government. How, someone tell me, how can you borrow money at interest and expect to pay it back when the sum owed is greater than the total sum that exists.
    Tell me!!!

    Same crap happening here where everyone is in debt. When you cannot control your own money supply and create it and destroy it when needed, you run into a deficit. And the Rothschilds win.

    38
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dmc
    Favourite Dmc
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 8:05 AM

    Jason, I can’t agree more. I know I’m drifting away slightly from this article but I dare anyone here who is in trouble with their mortgage to ask their bank to prove that they owned the money that was loaned out and to prove the money wasn’t printed out of thin air. Paying back interest on something that was printed out of thin air is crazy. Also on top of this, the banks usually sell on your loan so I’m sure there might be issues of contract on top of this. Bring back the gold standard and stop this thieves!

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dmc
    Favourite Dmc
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 8:49 AM

    AIB, Ulster Bank, TSB, EBS etc just red thumbed me!!!

    26
    See 5 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean O'Keeffe
    Favourite Sean O'Keeffe
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 9:31 AM

    ” The legacy of Democrats and Republicans approaches: Libertarianism by bankruptcy.”

    Nick Nuessle

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Economicopoly
    Favourite Economicopoly
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 10:26 AM

    DMC , I despise alot of what the banks have done and still continue to do, but the myth that private banks “create money out of thin air” is just that. When a bank issues a loan, it is held as an asset on the balance sheet but the capital reserves of the bank are depleted to make the loan, if the loan goes sour it becomes a liability. If banks simply print money out of thin air as you suggest , how could they ever go broke? The Central Bank can print “money” out of thin air, paper money and the more you print the less valuable each note becomes. It undermines the legitimacy of the overwhelming argument against what the banks have done and how many continue to profit despite the unprecedented damage they caused and already profited from.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Una Dev
    Favourite Una Dev
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 10:54 AM

    Jason.
    Federal taxes are at a 58 year low,and America has debts to prove it. Lets go to Clinton era tax rates where 22 million jobs were created and government has a supples for a few years until W. Bush spent the money and borrowed trillions more on tax cuts for top 1% and wars.

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Economicopoly
    Favourite Economicopoly
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 11:01 AM

    Yes UNA but asking people earning millions every year to pay more than 15% tax into the society and economy they generate their income from , is an assault on freedom and class warfare. It’s Socialism see but not for my medicaid, the lower income earners should pay the people earning these salaries for all the jobs they have created aside from all the tax that is already spend on corporate welfare, and cut funding on education, health and assisting the most impoverished but spend more on “Defense”. It’s looney and yet this looney view has a good shot of taking the presidency. in the long run maybe the idiots that support this need to experience this agenda at it’s zenith to realise they are only pawns for avaracious immoral financial interests.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Apple Core
    Favourite Apple Core
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 11:42 AM

    Economicopoly, you are simply wrong. This is what they are supposed to do which is very different from what they actually do. Jason and DMC are correct in what they say.
    If any person with a loan or mortgage in this country asks their bank to prove the validity of the loan they will receive some very interesting answers.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Raymond Connolly
    Favourite Raymond Connolly
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 8:53 AM

    He is a liar like our own politicians.

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Groome
    Favourite Tony Groome
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 7:44 AM

    Remind anyone of “turning a corner” crap we hear over here??

    23
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Mallon
    Favourite Paul Mallon
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 7:47 AM

    A bit, it was a hell of a lot better than Romney’s speech though.

    37
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Neil McAuley
    Favourite Neil McAuley
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 7:54 AM

    His speeches about ‘turning corners’ ‘change’ and all the other waffle are tiresome old hat except for die hard democrats and hardcore Obama fanbois. Less speeches if u get a second term Mr President and more action on fulfilling ur myriad promises

    22
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen Maher
    Favourite Stephen Maher
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 9:36 AM

    Echoes of The Distinguished Gentleman anyone?

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ryan Allen
    Favourite Ryan Allen
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 8:56 AM

    The biggest clue of all is probably in the last two paragraphs. Obama won in 2008 by spending more than any other candidate before – spending $760m verses McCain’s $346m. Now the trend is in reverse it seems:

    “Money has become an ever-present concern for the Democrats, an irony given the overwhelming advantage Obama held over John McCain in the 2008 campaign. This time, Romney is outpacing him, and independent groups seeking the Republican’s election are pouring tens of millions of dollars into television advertising, far exceeding what Obama’s supporters can afford.”

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Economicopoly
    Favourite Economicopoly
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 10:55 AM

    08 also has a huge surge in voting numbers under 28 , majority of the increase was for Obama, people too apathetic to vote voted for Obama, having witnessed the many u turns and concessions he made, although this group probably won’t be voting for Romney alot of them are certainly less motivated to vote for Obama again. On the other hand Romney is a joke, he pays 15% tax on an annual salary of approx $30 million, wants to lower this further and cut funding to many social services, in what other developed democracy could a candidate stand a chance with such a position. Sadly american politics has completely descended into the manipulation of ignorance, the more money and the less principled (which often go hand in hand anyway) the interest group is, the easier it is to manipulate the masses of ignorance use the ever intangible concept of freedom as the smokescreen to further any agenda. Every speech has to be on cliches and soundbites, and cannot vear away from the intellectual level of small children, there are of course many incredibly intelligent people in the U.S. most of them manipulating and exploiting the majority of Americans who are incredibly ignorant, keep cutting education it all gets easier.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cian Doherty
    Favourite Cian Doherty
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 12:33 PM

    Fairly extensive report shame you didn’t do the same for his opponents speech last week. Then again the journal is rooting for Obama.

    #Bias.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Damien Flinter
    Favourite Damien Flinter
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 12:53 PM

    Jaysis, Cian…rooting??

    At least O’Bambi won’t FALL on the shagging button….Mitt would think he was ringing it for a flunkie..and his sidekick Vice is just as grounded.

    Either way, the Pentagon took over a long time back..even under Kennedy they wanted to grow mushrooms on Moscow over Cuba. The generals saw it as an OPPERTUNITY. Their dreams are now being realised, thanks largely to Dick ‘Halliburton’ Cheyney&Co.

    You a Mitt man??If so, explain the advantages.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cian Doherty
    Favourite Cian Doherty
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 1:22 PM

    Who I’m supporting is irrelevant to my post, i was pointing out the fact that the journal made no mention of one candidates speech last week but yet posted this in depth report to the other’s…which is bias.

    4
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Val Kearney
    Favourite Val Kearney
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 2:16 PM

    Probably had something to do with them not having a lot to go off from his opponents speech. If you’re looking for an ommitance of an argument, of facts and of intelligent debate from a speech, step on up and Vote Republican!

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Mallon
    Favourite Paul Mallon
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 7:44 AM
    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Economicopoly
    Favourite Economicopoly
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 10:45 AM

    Well spotted, that is tremendously embarrasing, a complete charade, had he called it once it would have had more credibility but he did few times, all the same and then said it was 2/3 majority, it’s actually very disturbing and a perfect example of the charade of democracy that America has invaded countries on the alleged advancement of.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Val Kearney
    Favourite Val Kearney
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 2:20 PM

    The only way Obama won’t get re-elected is if Republican attempts to limit the amounts of eligable voters in the states, like they did to get Bush elected, are successful.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Damien Flinter
    Favourite Damien Flinter
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 2:28 PM

    I believe they’ve been working on that at state level, especially in marginals..gerrymandering poor black voters out of the picture again…not that I think nice Democrats wouldn’t..but its easier eliminate the poor.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave Hammond
    Favourite Dave Hammond
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 10:50 AM
    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Damien Flinter
    Favourite Damien Flinter
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 12:01 PM

    Obama’s best argument remains…MiTT-de-chimp’s-double-Tea Party…America remains terrified into idiocracy by its corporate lobbies of media distortion…with the fundamentalist religious Right military-industrial leaders of the pack baying for blood and oil.

    Prognosis: terminal somatosis of the cerebrum.

    Gotta go..drone on the phone..and coming soon..one for everyone in the audien…………….

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute DK Innovation
    Favourite DK Innovation
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 12:18 PM

    When looking at the facts it is hard to see why this race is close at all.
    Romney
    Hasn’t met an issue he hasn’t changed his mind on.
    Has a economiv plan which dosen’t add up.
    Won’t relaease details on Spending Cuts for his 5 billion
    Will bankrupt Medicare in four years
    Has an positive attitude to regulations which caused the crisis
    Supportted by a party which openly said they would throw the country under the bus to gain power

    Obama
    Reduced the Deficeit
    Created 4.5 million private jobs
    Reduced spending
    Reduced Taxes

    While it would be better if Obama achieved more, at least he is part of the solution. Romney is saying things that makes part of the problem, his only saving grace is that he is an eternal flip flopper…

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Damien Flinter
    Favourite Damien Flinter
    Report
    Sep 7th 2012, 2:13 PM

    No mention??
    I suggest you do a search. There is coverage of both Romney and Ryan. And more.
    Why would the Journal ‘root’??I’m sure they have their preferences..but the general readership can’t vote in the election, despite the local consequences of the outcome. Maybe they didn’t want to embarrass Mitt by quoting his eloquence.

    And my comment has the same ‘relevance’ as your original one. Except yours was an assertive assumption, mine a polite enquiry.

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.