old school. whiskey, lemon. honey. honey. kind of good. all right. first, the big story of the day. president obama made his pitch for a second chance last night as the democratic national convention came to an end. after two days of absolutely stirring oratory, some say the president s address was reserved by comparison. abc s karen travers joins us. reporter: hi, paula. hi, rob. it wasn t a speech in front of 75,000 screaming supporters in an outdoor stadium. last night in this arena in charlotte, president obama brought down the house. he used the word hope more than a dozen times and asked americans to stay with him on a journey back to prosperity. president obama tried to recapture some of that 2008 magic. the president boiled down the election to a choice between two fundamentally different visions for the future. ours is a fight to restore the values that built the
premiere with the giants and the cowboys. i was encouraged the country paid more attention to politics than athletics. the game wasn t as close as it was in the end. that helped as well. first, politics. president obama had a hard act to follow in accepting his party s nomination. so much changed between then and now. the president s speech had to acknowledge that. it wasn t exactly the change he hoped for and the country hoped for. abc s terry moran in charlotte with more. reporter: they still love him. barack obama may be struggling and fighting for his political life. madam chairwoman, delegates, i accept your nomination for president of the united states. reporter: still you couldn t help but think, what a difference four years have made. so much grayer now. the toll the presidency takes. the youthful aura that clung to barack obama in 2008 has been burned away by the searing
went through a lot of lines. osama bin laden is dead, general motors is alive. but he delivered the speech in a much more sober way than we ve heard. usually so fired up on the campaign trail. last night he made a compelling argument for president obama s re-election, am better than the president gave himself a couple minutes after that. the way joe biden speaks about the president, he is flat out gushing about him. he really likes president obama and loves talking about him and loves trying to convince voters. can you imagine if you had a co-worker that gave a speech like he gave last night about you? probably blushing. give it a shot, rob. rob would do the same for me? absolutely. two things i ve got to ask you. did it rain today in charlotte? democrats were concerned it was going to rain, that s why they moved the venue last minute indoors. did it make of a difference in the more intimate environment for the president? reporter: first things first. it started pouring mid-aft
and vice president biden had a line earlier where he said the journey of hope is not yet finished, but we are on our way. that seems to sum up what their message could be, stick with us, don t switch over to mitt romney. things will be better if you keep us in office. but that s a challenge for the president to try to acknowledge those difficulties but inspire enthusiasm and rev up democrats and convince skeptical voters to come on board. indeed. this was not a heavy policy speech, karen. trying to lay out a broad vision for the country and kind of say this side, a, thinks this, we think that. y all decide. and interesting how they painted, ended the convention last night. thanks to abc s karen travers live this morning from charlotte. be sure to join an already very active discussion online about the convention there on our facebook page. wnnfans.com. and our analysis continues from charlotte actually when senior washington editor, rick klein, joins us in a few moments. as karen m
change. and they expected it instantaneously. however, the mess was created over a lengthy period of time. reporter: in the end it was once again hope that barack obama spoke of. hope in tough times. america, i never said this journey would be easy. and i won t promise that now. yes, our path is harder. but it leads to a better place. reporter: terry moran, abc news, charlotte, north carolina. very presidential. there was one especially emotional and history-making moment at last night s convention. a tear-jerker, former congresswoman gabrielle giffords took the stage to lead the pledge of allegiance. she spoke the word clearly with a huge smile, bringing the delegates to their feet. many in tears, before a long list of speakers took the stage. in tampa, they talk with great urgency about the nation s debt and the need to act, to act now. but not once did they tell you that they rejected every plan by us or any other respected group to reduce the national debt. there are no