CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — President Barack Obama is acknowledging a long slog toward full economic recovery, but says "our problems can be solved, our challenges can be met."
In excerpts of the nomination for president acceptance speech that Obama will give to the Democratic National Convention tonight, he says, quote, "The path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a better place."
After a brief, cameo appearance on stage last night with former President Bill Clinton, Obama has his hour before the assembled party faithful in a few hours.
The speech he'll give in Charlotte, N.C., marks the final act of the 2012 convention. It also serves as the opening salvo in the two-month push toward Election Day in November. Excerpts of Obama's speech were released well in advance of his appearance on the podium.
Obama speaks to party delegates on the eve of another government report on the nation's job market.
Unemployment has been stuck above 8 percent for several months. In his speech, Obama will say the task of recovering from the economic disaster of 2008 is exceeded in American history only by the challenge that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt faced when he took office in the Great Depression in 1933.
Obama says that restoring the economy will require common effort, shared responsibility and the kind of bold persistent experimentation that FDR displayed.
In an appeal to independent voters who might be considering a vote for Republican rival Mitt Romney, he says those who carry on Roosevelt's legacy "should remember that not every problem can be remedied with another government program or dictate from Washington."
