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For Democrats, Opening Pitch at Convention Michelle Obama Tops Opening Night for Democrats
(about 2 hours later)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Democrats opened their convention here on Tuesday night with two simple messages for voters: Mitt Romney does not get it, and President Obama does. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Democrats opened their convention here on Tuesday night with a parade of officials telling voters that Mitt Romney does not get it and with a rousing speech from Michelle Obama making the case that President Obama does.
A parade of Democratic officials spent the first hours of the gathering detailing a political indictment of Mr. Romney, blistering him as being out of touch with the middle class and intent on taking the country back to the policies that caused the economy’s problems. Mr. Obama’s roster of Democratic promoters spent the first hours detailing a political indictment of Mr. Romney, blistering him as being out of touch with the middle class and intent on taking the country back to the policies that caused the economy’s problems.
“Their theory has been tested. It failed. Our economy failed,” said Mayor Julián Castro of San Antonio, the convention’s keynote speaker. “The middle class paid the price. Your family paid the price. Mitt Romney just doesn’t get it.” But the main attraction of the evening was the appearance of Mr. Obama’s lead character witness: the first lady, who, wearing a pink-and-gold-speckled sleeveless dress, was greeted with chants of “Four more years!” from the excited arena, to which she responded: “With your help.”
But the main attraction of the evening was the appearance, during the broadcast period on the television networks, of Mr. Obama’s lead character witness: his wife, Michelle. “Barack knows what it means when a family struggles,” she said in remarks that electrified the party faithful in the Time Warner Cable Arena and were broadcast nationally by the television networks. “He knows what it means to want something more for your kids and grandkids. Barack knows the American dream because he’s lived it, and he wants everyone in this country to have that same opportunity, no matter who we are, or where we’re from, or what we look like, or who we love.”
“Barack knows what it means when a family struggles,” she said. “He knows what it means to want something more for your kids and grandkids. Barack knows the American Dream because he’s lived it, and he wants everyone in this country to have that same opportunity, no matter who we are, or where we’re from, or what we look like, or who we love.” Four years of partisan sniping, Washington gridlock and continued economic challenges may have dulled the luster of the man this party nominated four years ago. But Mrs. Obama sought to remind his 2008 voters that the same person they supported then is underneath the tarnish she sought to buff away.
Aides said Mrs. Obama’s address was meant to lay the foundation for a convention program devised to remind wavering voters — the same ones Mr. Romney is working so hard to woo away — what they liked about the president when they supported him four years ago, and what has motivated his decisions. The address was meant to lay the foundation for a convention program devised to remind wavering working- and middle-class voters — the same ones Mr. Romney is working so hard to woo away — what they liked about the president when they supported him four years ago, and how his own humbler roots have helped inspire his policies to help them.
“And he believes that when you’ve worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you,” Mrs. Obama said in the closest she came to even an implicit reference to her husband’s opponent. “You reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed.” “He believes that when you’ve worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you,” Mrs. Obama said, her impassioned delivery drawing the crowd to its feet as it waved red, white and blue “Michelle” placards. “You reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed.”
The evening amounted to a thundering response to the Republican convention last week in Tampa, Fla., and signaled a still-tougher footing for the final phase of the race, fueled by the White House’s intention to keep Mr. Romney from becoming a credible alternative to the president in the minds of undecided voters. It was one of the few times Mrs. Obama came close to even a subtle reference to the very direct argument being made against her husband’s opponent here. She argued that Mr. Obama’s experience as president had taught him that “no amount of data or numbers will get you the right answer.” Her portrait of her husband was the inverse of the one that other Democrats have sketched of Mr. Romney, who former Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio said viewed the “American worker” as “just numbers on a spreadsheet.”
The progression of speakers and videos made a case for Mr. Obama’s policies in ways that his campaign has at times seemed to struggle to do. As someone with whom she was “so young, so in love, and so in debt,” Mrs. Obama said, her husband believes “success isn’t about how much money you make. It’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.” 
There was hardly an issue on which Mr. Romney was spared — and hardly an important voting group whose interests were not addressed in ways that reflected negatively on Mr. Romney and his running mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin. Mrs. Obama’s was almost the only voice lacking an explicit anti-Romney edge, conveying a personal tone and touch after speeches that were personal in a different way when it came to the president’s opponent. As the other speakers undertook a program that amounted to a thundering response to the Republican convention last week in Tampa, Fla., they went after Mr. Romney on just about every conceivable issue.
Tammy Duckworth, an injured Iraq combat veteran running for the House in Illinois, criticized Mr. Romney for failing to honor the troops in his convention speech last week. Former Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio said that if Mr. Romney were Santa Claus, “he’d fire the reindeer and outsource the elves.” And an Arizona woman, Stacey Lihn, took the stage with her toddler, Zoe, who has a congenital heart disease, and said her daughter’s health insurance would run out if Mr. Romney won in November and followed through with his promise to get Mr. Obama’s health care law repealed. The keynote speaker, Mayor Julián Castro of San Antonio, offered the overarching argument against Mr. Romney and his running mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconson.
The Democrats even got the spirit of Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, who died three years ago, into the act in a tribute video. It showed Mr. Kennedy in his 1994 debate with Mr. Romney during their Senate race, mocking Mr. Romney for his shifting position on abortion rights and calling him “multiple choice.” “Their theory has been tested. It failed. Our economy failed,” Mr. Castro said in what seemed to be the second-most rousing speech of the night for the Democratic audience. “The middle class paid the price. Your family paid the price. Mitt Romney just doesn’t get it.”
The speakers here pounded Mr. Romney on immigration, on health care, on Medicare, on foreign policy, on the 2009 auto bailout and on his tax policies, which they said would benefit the rich at the expense of the working class and cause the same kind of economic damage that they said Mr. Obama had worked so hard to undo. After what has at times been a tentative approach to promoting the health care law, perhaps Mr. Obama’s signature legislation, the program included a full-throated defense of the overhaul and the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold it.
Concerned about alienating voters with too much negativity, Mr. Obama’s strategists were careful to ensure that speakers always included a positive element about Mr. Obama. And an Arizona woman, Stacey Lihn, took the stage with her toddler, Zoe, who has a congenital heart disease, and said her daughter’s health insurance would run out if Mr. Romney won and followed through with his promise to get Mr. Obama’s health care law repealed. “But we’re also scared,” she said. “Governor Romney repealing health care reform is something we worry about literally every day.”
The Democrats even got the spirit of Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts into the act in a tribute video. It showed Mr. Kennedy in his 1994 debate with Mr. Romney during their Senate race, mocking Mr. Romney for his shifting position on abortion rights and calling him “multiple choice.”
The program never addressed the disappointment of many wavering Obama voters in the president’s handling of the economy, as Republicans will note. But the speakers pounded Mr. Romney on immigration, on health care, on Medicare, on foreign policy, on the 2009 auto bailout and on his tax policies, which they said would benefit the rich at the expense of the working class and cause the kind of economic damage that they said Mr. Obama had worked to undo.
Mr. Romney’s wealth was given full attention, with Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland referring to the Swiss bank account Mr. Romney no longer has by saying: “Swiss bank accounts don’t put cops on the beat or teachers in our classrooms. Swiss bank accounts never created American jobs.”
Apparently concerned about alienating voters with too much negativity, Mr. Obama’s strategists were careful to ensure that speakers always included a positive element about Mr. Obama.
“Mitt Romney is walking away from us,” Representative Nydia M. Velázquez of New York said. “He walks with people who disrespect us and people who divide us and people who do not believe that the American dream means all of us. President Obama has walked with us for the last 12 years — in good times and in tough times — and right now we are going to walk with the president to the polls and onward to victory.”“Mitt Romney is walking away from us,” Representative Nydia M. Velázquez of New York said. “He walks with people who disrespect us and people who divide us and people who do not believe that the American dream means all of us. President Obama has walked with us for the last 12 years — in good times and in tough times — and right now we are going to walk with the president to the polls and onward to victory.”
A group of Democratic women in the House of Representatives came to the stage together — led by t Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the minority leader — to criticize Republican moves against the so-called Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would make it easier for women to press discrimination cases, and various elements of the president’s health care overhaul, including its coverage of contraception. Mindful of the need to address a sometimes deflated group of liberal, grass-roots supporters, speakers stressed core party social issues like abortion rights and the president’s support for gay marriage.
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, stopped just shy of repeating an unsubstantiated charge that independent fact checkers had criticized him for making: that Mr. Romney is not disclosing more than two years of his tax returns because he is hiding a rate of zero percent. A group of Democratic women in the House of Representatives came to the stage together — led by Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the minority leader — to criticize Republican moves against the so-called Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would make it easier for women to press discrimination cases, and various elements of the president’s health care overhaul, including its coverage of contraception.
“We can only imagine what new secrets would be revealed if he showed the American people a dozen years of tax returns, like his father did,” Mr. Reid said. “Mitt Romney said we should take his word that he paid his fair share. His word? Trust comes from transparency, and Mitt Romney comes up short on both.” When Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark gave a speech introducing the party platform and its first-ever declaration of support for same-sex marriage,” the delegates broke into a standing ovation and cheers of “Cory!” and “U.S.A.!”
The official convention proceedings will culminate on Thursday night, when Mr. Obama will appear here to accept his party’s nomination for a second term. While Mr. Obama has drawn fire at times from both liberal and centrist members of his party, and while Republicans used his health care overhaul and economic stimulus plan to help them recapture the House in 2010 on the strength of a resurgent conservative movement, Democrats here showed no signs of division or second thoughts.
In contrast to the opening day of the Republican National Convention last week, when supporters of Representative Ron Paul of Texas and his unsuccessful presidential campaign staged brief protests, the hall here was filled with chants of “Fired up, ready to go!” as the crowd awaited the opening gavel on Tuesday.
The delegates broke into a standing ovation and cheers of “Cory!” and “U.S.A.!” when Mayor Cory Booker of Newark gave a speech introducing the party platform and its first-ever declaration of support for same-sex marriage.”
“No matter who you are, no matter what color or creed, no matter how you choose to pray or who you choose to love,” Mr. Booker shouted, “if you are a citizen of the United States of America, you should be able to find a job that pays, you should be able to afford health care for your family, you should be able to retire with dignity and respect, and you should be able to give your children the kind of education that allows them to dream even bigger, to go ever farther and accomplish more than you could ever imagine.”“No matter who you are, no matter what color or creed, no matter how you choose to pray or who you choose to love,” Mr. Booker shouted, “if you are a citizen of the United States of America, you should be able to find a job that pays, you should be able to afford health care for your family, you should be able to retire with dignity and respect, and you should be able to give your children the kind of education that allows them to dream even bigger, to go ever farther and accomplish more than you could ever imagine.”
A day before his scheduled arrival in Charlotte, Mr. Obama traveled from Washington to Norfolk, Va., on Tuesday for a campaign stop where he previewed the themes he is likely to strike at the convention, with an emphasis on the partisan division over taxes.
“You can choose their path — give massive new tax cuts to folks who have already made it — or you can choose my path,” Mr. Obama said at Norfolk State University. “I want to keep taxes low for every American who’s out there still trying to make it.”
Mr. Obama sought to draw similarly sharp distinctions with Mr. Romney on energy policy, health care and national security, asserting the Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan would take the country back to Republican policies that had failed during the Bush administration.
Mr. Romney did not campaign on Tuesday, instead working on debate preparation in Vermont. But Mr. Ryan blitzed three morning news shows on network television, defending the ticket against Democratic attacks.
Mr. Ryan was asked about Democratic accusations that the Republican ticket’s plan to cut tax rates by 20 percent and make up for lost revenues by closing loopholes would mean a $2,000 tax increase for a typical middle-class family. That was the finding of the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research group.
He said that other groups had shown it was possible to eliminate tax breaks and still reduce rates for everyone, and that lower tax rates would help pay for themselves by spurring the economy. “Economic growth is the key to this, and one of the keys to economic growth is tax reform,” Mr. Ryan said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”