The DNC Showed Obama's Vision Is Right for America's Future

Convention succeeded in firing up the Democratic base

By Zerlina Maxwell

, Democratic Strategist and Writer

September 7, 2012

About Zerlina Maxwell:

Zerlina Maxwell is a Democratic strategist and contributing writer for The New York Daily News, EBONY.com, theGrio.com, and Feministing.com.

One hundred percent yes. The Democratic Convention did two very important things: It got the Democratic base fired up and ready to go and it painted a clear picture of the differences between the two parties and their plans for the future of the country.

The key in this election will be which party can get more of its voters out on November 6 in the key battleground states. Jobs numbers, conventions, polling, and debates are important to be sure, but the real key is going to be the ground game, and a successful convention can have a positive impact on volunteer recruitment, which means more direct contact with voters in those key states.

Another success from this week's convention is the way Democrats, through inspirational and forward-looking speeches, were able to lay out clear distinctions between their vision of the future and Mitt Romney's vision for the future. Democrats want continue down the same path and in a second term actually try to implement more of the president's key policies--including the American Jobs Act, which was blocked by Republicans in the Congress--to move America forward down the road to prosperity.

[See a collection of political cartoons on the 2012 campaign.]

The Obama administration has a long list of accomplishments to be proud of, and those were certainly highlighted in Charlotte, N.C., but the mediocre jobs report released Friday morning is a stark reminder of just how slow the economy has been able to recover from the biggest crisis since the 1930s. The convention allowed Americans to hear the clear differences between the two candidates, particularly in President Clinton's home run of a speech Wednesday night, and November 6 they will be able to go to the polls and pull the lever and choose one vision over the other.

Conventions normally produce a "bounce" that can give a candidate momentum heading into the presidential debates, but Mitt Romney only got a 1 point bounce from the Republican convention last week. It's possible the Friday jobs report could limit the convention bounce that the president receives as well, but certainly the Democrats are leaving the convention very confident that they did what they needed to do to stay in the lead in the states that will determine the electoral outcome and set the party up for a victory this fall.