Accepting the Nomination

U.S. President Barack Obama gestures during a speech on the final day of the DNC.

Four years after the nation made history by electing him the first African-American president, Barack Obama asked for a second term with a pledge to keep rebuilding a battered economy in a way that "may be harder but it leads to a better place." Obama said the election between him and Republican Party nominee Mitt Romney would have profound consequences on jobs -- which he mentioned 15 times -- and the economy, taxes and deficits, energy and education, war and peace.

While asking for a commitment to patience rather than a re-investment in hope and change, Obama, 51, said that the race presented an urgent choice that will last for generations, underscoring the differences between the parties that have led to a polarized electorate frustrated by warring factions in Washington.

"I'm asking you to choose that future," Obama said last night in a 39-minute speech accepting the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, two months to the day before the Nov. 6 election. "Yes, our road is longer, but we travel it together. We don't turn back. We pull each other up."

His challenge now is to make history again. If re-elected, Obama would become the first president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt to be elected with an unemployment rate above 8 percent -- and estimates for jobs data out today suggest the trend will continue.