Obama must give America a bold idea of its future

The Democrats have descended en masse on Charlotte, North Carolina, America’s second banking city, the headquarters of Bank of America and Wells Fargo, amongst others, whose jagged corporate spires and gargoyles disappear into the menacing monsoon skies.

Inclement weather seems to be a convention theme this year, and yesterday thousands of party faithful were sent darting into bank and hotel lobbies, behind pillars and under trees, as the heavens opened.

There was one key difference to the way Republicans sheltered from the elements. Last week in Tampa I didn’t see a single wet Mitt T-shirt. No one’s Mitt necklace jangled as they ran for cover. There were no floppy Mitt hats soaked by the rain. In fact the one Mitt T-shirt stall we came across in the convention hall was manned by a miffed salesman sitting on piles of unsold stock.

The GOP barely flirted with Mitt. And love was not even on the cards, unless of course you were a member of the Romney family. The relationship of the convention delegates to their chosen candidate was that of a patient to a dentist: businesslike, sober, but one sincerely hopes it will do the trick.

Here in Charlotte it’s Obama-mania amongst the faithful, like it was the summer of 2008. His face is ubiquitous. If it was anywhere else in the world, you would call it a personality cult. There is even a giant sand sculpture of Obama outside the Hilton hotel. I wonder if it has already been washed away.

A personality is great for firing up the foot soldiers but it is not enough to sway the all important swing voters. There are some obvious differences between Mitt and Barack: name, race, upbringing, speaking style.

One places the key to America’s revival in the hands of the rugged genius entrepreneur who, unfettered by the straightjacket of government, will go forth and multiply his profits and workforce. The other believes that this can only happen with the benign embrace of government.

But beyond these differences, both are remarkably similar. Mitt and Barack can both appear remote and aloof. They are supreme pragmatists – one schooled in the remorseless logic of consulting, the other in the cold logic of the law.

They have kept the substance of their plan for fixing America largely to themselves. It’s not just Mitt Romney who needs to try harder to feel the pain of average Americans. Obama can rely to some extent on his unprivileged background and his identity. But that is not enough in 2012.

This time round, Obama’s rhetoric will be judged against his score card in office. And that’s where it gets tricky. For the record, no American since World War Two has won re-election if the unemployment rate has been higher than 7.6 percent. It currently stands at well above 8 and it may only get worse in the coming months.

Obama may have introduced healthcare reform, and he probably stopped the economy from falling off a cliff in 2009. I say “probably” because you can’t win an election on the absence of catastrophe. And the president’s healthcare reform is resented by a majority of Americans, even if they like individual aspects of the policy.

Much of the debate in recent days has focused on a question repeatedly asked at the GOP convention, unearthed from the campaign in which Reagan crushed Carter and so far badly answered by the Democrats: are you worse off now than you were four years ago?

The GOP says yes, of course. After scrabbling around for a few days, the Democrats have come back with a resounding but unconvincing NO! America was worse off then because Lehman Brothers was about to collapse and the world as we knew it was about to end.

But after four years of sputtering recovery, America feels as if its worst post-war hangover has outstayed its welcome. Enough already! Obama and his proxies will spend much of the week defending his record and making the country afraid, very afraid of the other side. This will sound tactical and petty.

What Barack Obama needs to do is move beyond the vague rhetoric of hope and change and the small-mindedness of fear and loathing. He needs to give his audience a clear and bold idea of what he has in mind beyond just taxing the rich and fixing the roads.

The America between the partisan tribes is yearning for a grand bargain that leaves nothing untouched and can reboot a country in danger of self-destruction. Go on Barry, surprise us.

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