Obama's re-election road: Hope and a hard climb

President Obama heads to his car after arriving at Toledo Express Airport in Swanton, Ohio, Sunday, Sept. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Madalyn Ruggiero)

President Obama heads to his car after arriving at Toledo Express Airport in Swanton, Ohio, Sunday, Sept. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Madalyn Ruggiero)

FILE - In this May 2, 2010, file photo, President Barack Obama meets coast guard first responders in Venice, La., as he visits the Gulf Coast region affected by the BP (British Petroleum) oil well spill. President Obama tweaked his travel plans to head to Louisiana on Monday, Sept. 3, 2012, to see the damage from Hurricane Isaac ahead of his own nominating convention_ shortly after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney toured the area. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? People remember the hope and the history. For him or against him, they picture candidate Barack Obama as the one who stood on the Democrats' stage in Denver and declared, "It's time for us to change America."

Forgotten, it seems, is what Obama said after he actually won. In November, four years ago, he said solemnly that the road ahead would be long. In his words, "We may not get there in one year, or even one term."

Now, Obama needs voters to recall how life was back at the start, to judge what he has done as unfinished but productive, not as a failure.

As he accepts renomination Thursday night in Charlotte, N.C., his message of hope is still there. But the pitch now is a lot more hang-in-there-with-me.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-09-03-Obama-Road%20to%20Charlotte/id-bab877b42bb64718aa766814d4969a3f

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