newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ADELE SAMMARCO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

As Barack Obama officially accepted his party’s nomination Thursday at the grand finale of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, the United States Labor Department was preparing to release its latest statistics on the jobs market.

In August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the economy added 96,000 jobs, fewer than expected, and while the nation’s unemployment rate dropped to 8.1 percent, economists predict the stock market is set to move higher Friday.

Laying it all out on the line, acknowledging that more needs to be done in the way of job growth, the President challenged his Republican opponents and told Americans Mitt Romney did not offer a clear-cut plan of what he will do to fix the economy if elected President of the United States.

“Our friends down in Tampa, at the Republican convention, were more than happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with America, but they didn’t have much to say about how they’d make it right," said the President. to applause. He added, “They want your vote, but they don’t want you to know their plan. And that’s because all they had to offer is the same prescription they’ve had for the last 30 years: “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.”

Directly answering the GOPs mantra that the country is not better off than it was four years ago, the President admitted, “I recognize that times have changed since I first spoke to this convention. The times have changed, and so have I. I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the President.”

Democrats have traditionally long been the subject of Republican mocking holding former President Jimmy Carter’s administration of the late 1970s as a whipping post, and perhaps in strong response to those personal attacks, Mass. Governor Deval Patrick slammed his predecessor, Mitt Romney, the first night of the convention saying, “He was more interested in having the job, than doing the job.” And then urged all Democrats "to grow a backbone and stand up for what they believe.”

Obama continued the shots back at Romney, “If you can’t afford to start a business or go to college, take my opponent’s advice and 'borrow money from your parents.'”

Obama spoke pointedly to voters and said what it comes down to in November is a choice between two fundamentally different futures.

Barack Obama took over at a time when the nation was facing two wars and a beleaguered economy was deep in recession, the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s.