you are on. >> hello? >> can you speak up please? i am going to hang up on you, and we are going to move on to minneapolis, minn., a republican. >> the president ran on a bad economy. in his own words he said if he can bring the economy down, he has a long-term proposition. the race was about self-defense. we had 8% [unintelligible] for about three years. that is a fact. if we're going by his own words, has the right to go for a

second term which would give another person a chance to lead. that was the basis -- because george bush economy was far better. he is a man, he is good looking, he is passionate. >> thanks for your call. yomama on twitter sent us this message. listen to the president on the gop foreign-policy. >> now we have a choice. my opponent and his running mate are new to foreign policy.

[laughter] [applause] from all that we have seen and heard, they want to take this back to an era of blistering and blunder in the cost american so dearly. after all, you do not call russia our number one enemy. not al qaeda come wershow. alessa were still -- unless you are still stuck in a cold war mind warp. it may not be ready for diplomacy with beijing. [applause] my opponent said that it was tragic to end the war in iraq and he will not tell us how he will end the war in afghanistan. i have and i will.

[applause] while my upon it was -- would spend more money on military hardware that our trade tiffs do not want, i will use the money we're no longer spending on were to pay down our debt and put more people back to work. rebuilding roads and bridges and schools and runways, because after two wars, at a cost of thousands of lives, it is time to do the nation-building here in home. [applause] >> president obama on the foreign policy. let's return to the floor. >> she was in denver four years ago. now back for this one. did he close the deal tonight? >> i think he absolutely did. absolutely. he laid out his accomplishments, he laid out his plans for the middle class, i absolutely think

he did. >> what other speech stood out? >> there have been so many of them. as a woman, i was completely inspired by sandra fluke and sister -- i forgot her name but the nuns on the bus. michelle obama and president clinton were amazing. the governor not to that of the park tonight. >> what about the president's speech tonight? what did you take away from what he said? >> he has more work to do. we have to send him back and keep him going. i believe -- this is great. i had butterflies in my rec -- in my stomach. i was so excited to listen to him in person. >> why do you think this race is so close? >> it is close because president

obama has had a lot of policies. they're not sound bites. they are complex and interesting. we're trying our best to lay it out but it is not a talking point. this convention is going to highlight some of those issues like medicare and welfare reform, like the war in iraq and afghanistan. we lay this out and explained to the people. we are progressing in moving forward. that is what obama did tonight. he showed the american people that and hopefully the american people will vote him back in so we can continue his good work. >> there werthey were planning e their final night at invesco stadium. >> it is hard to compare four years ago. we were talking about sending a new president to the white house, this year we are reelecting the same president. i am sad about the -- there was

going to be 60,000 people and i feel said there were not able to participate. there were thousands of watch parties all around the country. i am hopeful the pelt -- they felt part of the process. i do not think you can compare them and i am thrilled to be here in charlotte and looking forward to helping the president get reelected. >> thank you for being with us on c-span. >> i hope you'll bear with me for a second to give a shout out to my colleagues. c-span is a small company. people all around c-span have been working for the past year plus to bring you this back to back coverage of the convention. folks working in the education department. the programming and engineering

departments and want to thank you. 15 minutes taking your calls. >> first of all, i want to make this statement. i find it difficult for people, the everyday average american to actually believe that the republican party has their best interests at heart. for the simple reason is that it is a known fact that mitt romney is a millionaire and key -- he closed plants or job that he and his partners own and he got the money but he cares nothing about the people that were laid off. and to sit here and listen at

the people who are calling in, even some of your independents who believe, they are saying, i am still voting for mitt romney because i feel as though he is the best man for the job, the sad thing about it is a lot of these people, they have not done their research as far as foreign policy. mitt romney knows nothing about foreign policy. he went overseas and made a complete idiot of himself. and for ryan, he believes that only the strong should survive. in other words, you should not care about anyone but yourself

and those who are at the same level. what i am saying is that only the rich are the ones that they're concerned about. the republicans -- most republicans are going to vote for mitt romney and ryan. but for the independents, i really hope that you guys go and do your homework instead of calling up on the telephone, making statements such as, we need a change or i do not like obama. obama cares about everyone. >> thank you. six minutes left on our reaction program. let me tell you what is coming up next. the next big events in the presidential calendar are the

debates, less than one month from now. the three presidential debates are october 3 at the university of denver, october 16 at hofstra university, and october 22 at lynn university. we will be carrying them and the extensive use of social media and your phone calls to react to these important events in the presidential election cycle. next is a supporter of the president. >> i represent and support president obama. he has made many changes for our country and he is a definite democrat and a people person. he made it quite clear that he wants americans to do their part and vote to put this

country back to the people. it has been quite clear that he has been boley drug his presidency, after the republicans and the congress, and they have been holding us back. and fighting the things he is trying to do to help us and not only voting for the president to help turn this around, move forward, we have to remember to vote for the people in congress that is going to back him up and back of the people. >> thanks renne much for your call. there is one vice-presidential debate. -- thanks very much for your call. it is in kentucky. as theyu were on the stage were paying tribute to veterans. as someone who is not here as a political person but someone representing the navy, what was it like for you? >> it was thrilling to be part of this historic moment and look out on the cn -- the sea of

people. karins were not acknowledged or talked about. to have the president about so much of this convention to the military spokesman much about where his priorities are. it was thrilling to be part of it. >> you are classmates, you attended harvard law school tomorrow. was that the same barack obama your member from harvard law? >> it was. barack obama is a strong leader, he is intelligent, he says what he means and means what he says. he wants diplomacy and was as a rock -- war as a last resort and peace in our time. he was the same guy as i and harvard. >> you remember him well? >> he did not talk all the time when he did, you could hear a pin drop because everyone wanted to hear what he had to say and what he said was very small -- very smart and well intentioned.

>> thank you for being with us. >> if you go to our convention hub, you can find all the speeches, easily clippable and shareable. you can make easy clips and share them with your friends. we will have an aggregation of twitter comments and it is a place to see and share with you have heard tonight and also we have a similar page for the republican convention. an opportunity to spread the message. john dulles has a tweet. we have one clip from his acceptance speech we will show you at the end. >> thank you very much, everybody. thank you. michelle, i love you so much.

a few nights ago, everybody was reminded just what a lucky man i am. [cheers and applause] malia and sasha, we are so proud of you. [applause] and yes, you do have to go to school in the morning. [laughter] [applause] and joe biden, thank you for being the very best vice president i could have ever hoped for and being a strong and loyal friend. [applause] madam chairwoman, delegates, i

accept your nomination for president of the united states. [cheers and applause] >> the president accepting his nomination of the democrats here at the time warner cable arena. one last visit to the floor. >> we wanted to move beyond what happened tonight and what vester will happen tomorrow and the next couple of days with the candidates. >> it will be a nonstops brand starting tomorrow. the president and vice president will go to new hampshire and iowa. some key battleground states. and moving on to florida. mitt romney is also going to iowa and you have paul ryan going to nevada.

it will be a nonstop spread in these battleground states try to take the messages that they try to make in their convention speeches and amplified days. one of the points that obama's campaign manager may from the stage was that in three weeks, early voting starts in iowa. it might seem like it is a couple of months, but this will be a real sprint now and it is going to be -- a lot of excitement at both conventions and they have to translate that and get that message out. a lot of other people are looking at other things. whether it is an nfl football game or the video music awards. it is not like 10 or 20 years ago where more people were watching the convention so they have to figure out other ways to get their message out. >> both will be in new hampshire. we will have live coverage. what does that tell you about

the state of the race and the key states to look at? >> a share issue that everyone knows it will come down to five or six or seven states. it is very, very close. people were thinking about bounces at previous conventions. the obama folks will tell you they do not expect that much of a bounce. the country is polarized and evenly divided. if you look at the polls, the president is up by 1.2. one is that close, it will be an exciting couple of months here. the point that you hear over and over again at this convention, told to the delegates, if you are not from one of those battleground states, then get to one of those battleground states. your rote really does matter. it will be an exciting election. it does come down to whether people turn out.

there is certainly a lot of energy to do that. it has been four difficult years for the democrats and it was interesting to see the president's order of trying to get that enthusiasm back that he had four years ago by saying, stick with me, keep your hope alive, essentially. he has to go out there and we will see how the energy is on the trail for him tomorrow and on the weeks to come. >> the campaign moves from here to other states. we appreciate your time. >> that is it for us from the time warner cable rain in charlotte, north carolina and the 2012 democratic national convention. the discussion will continue tomorrow and right now, as we have been drug these conventions, we will show you take ao's commentary

little while ago. >> >> welcome to politico what -- live. welcome. raucous political hub. i want you to comment. we have this big night. it was obama's moment, it was a sharp and tough speech. a long defense of his years in office. i will bat cleanup. what did you think?

>> he said trust me. he is portrayed the other side as bumbling dolts. he talked about how the republicans do not know what they're doing. he referenced from the ones. he said i will not take -- turn medicare into a voucher. they are new at foreign policy. he is saying i am the president, i know what i am doing. >> trust my leadership and give me more time. the strong case that kerry and biden made for him. i saw some humility. he was a little bit flat in the beginning but he did start the storm. he did not lead a battle in his speech. a tougher speech than what we heard from the vice president and that one usually plays the more the traditional attack dog world. the tougher moment was the critic on foreign policy from a

president who four years ago himself came under criticism for not having foreign-policy experience. we heard him go right to that romney gap. he cannot attend the beijing olympics without insulting our closest ally and what does that mean about his ability to conduct diplomacy in a difficult world? >> i am joined by mike allaen. and rachael who runs our white house coverage. if you're wondering why this race is tight cannot think about the speech and think about mitt romney's speech. both were good, and neither of them were great. both offered some persuasion but were not persuasive to the independent voters. in some ways, barack obama is probably lucky that america did not tune in to the entire night because joe biden's speech, john

kerry's speech had more bite and had the crowd were fired up then the president and -- than the president himself. it was a fine defense. it was not remarkable. if you think about his prescription for the next four, there was some specificity but not too much. where it was strongest must be where it matters the least which was on foreign policy. it was a powerful, powerful speech. when he took mitt romney apart on foreign policy. we will never know why mitt romney did not talk about the truth in his speech. we will never know why they did not talk about afghanistan. democrats clearly saw that as a huge weakness for republicans and a huge strength for the democratic party. they came in with john kerry with what i think was the best

speech i have ever seen john kerry give. they came in with joe biden who was classic joe biden. n. barack obama, talking in a really tough terms. the democrats suddenly all national security? what happened to american policy as we know it? >> one of the interesting things about this night is it gives democrats a chance to look strong on some of their biggest issues traditionally. both defense and national security. how many times did we hear the name bin laden tonight? one of his favorite lines, osama bin laden is dead and general motors is a life. >> all three of them were killed mitt romney and paul ryan. it was relentless. >> the president wrote it in. -- rubbed it in. and bill clinton had the best speech. what surprised me about this is

it seemed aimed more at democrats. this gives you a sense of what's this will be going forward. we can see them try to do that with democrats. he had them chanting, "four more years" constantly. >> i thought going in that -- because bill clinton did so well that barack obama of a competitor would want to outshine him and it would lead him to do a better speech. it was not bill clinton. it was not even elizabeth warren's speech which is interesting. it does speak to why this race -- i see coming out of the convention will remain basically tied. why people are going into the

debate wondering, who do i trust more and why, given the history of both men and the history, there will not know after that either. both are good at debate-setting. neither will make mistakes. both will appear presidential. both of them will have a real limitation in a philosophical argument they're trying to make. >> those speeches that we heard from the vice presidential candidate it affirmed the feeling that that might be the most interesting debates of after all. if you think about it, one -- what else was there to say once you got through these issues? bill clinton was unbelievable. michelle obama was very strong. role -- he can make these decisions. don't you think he can?

>> let's have a debate here. there were going into the speech and they wanted to accomplish two things. they wanted to orient voters. the economy was going to melt before us. you had to get people to understand the depth of the problem but he also had to get people to understand he has a specific solution. i feel like he did a good job of exploiting the deaths of the problem and this convention did a good job of focusing the mind of voters. i do not know if you walk away, i do not as a political journalist, with a better understanding. in both cases, what would mitt romney govern like? what what barack obama govern like? >> he had that line in his speech, i am the president. he is telling you, i know how to do this job, i have done this job, i do not need to lay out a

completely new vision because you can look at what i have done so far. >> it was an interesting mix. it felt like he was trying to cover a lot of ground. opening with what was almost an apology. he rebounded -- rebutted his record and ended with hope again. >> he said here is what has been done. we have been -- we have done quite a bit. we helped these people with health care. do not buy it. >> on that second point, he did not mesmerized by painting a picture of what it could be. he said this was no elizabeth warren speech or bill clinton speech, it was not barack obama 2008. >> he reached out to the middle of america up.

people who thought it would never vote for democrat. >> will go to a club in one second. he did pull page from paul ryan -- we will go to a clip in one second. he did pull a page from paul ryan. i will never turn medicare into a voucher. as we well know, the proposal is more complicated than turning it into a voucher. >> the paul ryan speech distorted what he is doing so fair is fair. >> we spent a lot of time on this panel talking about how misleading the charges from paul ryan, particularly in light of his own [unintelligible] was worth pointing out. >> now our friends down in

tampa at the republican convention where more than happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with america, but they did not have much to say about how that would make it right. the lawyer wrote -- they want your rote but they do not want you to know their plan. that is why -- because all they had to offer was the same prescriptions they have had for the last 30 years. have a surplus, try tax cut. deficit to hide? try another one. feel cold coming on? two tax cuts and in the morning. >> republicans have exposed themselves on this. they basically only talk about cutting taxes. a lot of those are designed to benefit everyone including the wealthy. that was one of the more clever lines that barack obama hand. lines that barack obama hand. republicans do not