FOXNews.com: Obama campaign: 'Tonight is not about magic'

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Obama campaign: 'Tonight is not about magic' Sep 6th 2012, 16:48 President Obama will trade the "magic" of his 2008 campaign rhetoric for a "pragmatic" pitch for how he plans to restore economic security to America in his nomination address Thursday night, campaign officials said. "Tonight is not about magic. It's about being pragmatic. It's about the future," an Obama official told Fox News, hours before the president was to deliver his speech before Democratic delegates and the nation at the party's convention in Charlotte, N.C. "It's not about the rhetoric, it's about the vision." The president, who is said to still be "tweaking" his script, will lay out a path forward for the nation, while also drawing clear differences between himself and Mitt Romney. Obama will offer "some new ideas" when he discusses his practical plan for economic growth, campaign officials said, and will also address other issues like education and clean energy.  The event has been scaled down due to weather, with the campaign announcing a day earlier that the threat of rain and lightning would force the address to be moved from the 72,000-seat Bank of America Stadium to the much smaller, and enclosed, Time Warner Cable Arena.  Obama's speech is designed not to persuade delegates but to reach the family sitting behind a television set in Des Moines and all over the country, the campaign said. But the question remains as to whether this president, among the most celebrated orators of his generation, can still summon the powers of persuasion which helped get him elected in the first place. His advisers think so. Senior adviser Robert Gibbs said: "You're not seeing him for the first time or the 10th time. But I think he will meet the moment." The average length of the president's last 10 speeches before major crowds was 24 minutes. His last 10 solo news conferences lasted an average of 43 minutes. Some independent observers say his problem Thursday night may be the fact that, as the nation's chief executive in an age of 24-7 news cycles and social media -- he's over-exposed. But aides tried to contrast what Obama's about to do with what Mitt Romney did in his nomination acceptance speech last week in Tampa. They said the GOP candidate offered "no idea" about what the future would be like under a Romney presidency.  Romney, though, posed what would be a troubling question for the Obama campaign when he asked in Tampa whether the country is better off than it was four years ago. Romney claimed it was not, and Obama aides initially hesitated on the question before top surrogates argued this week that the country is, in fact, better off.  Campaign officials said Vice President Biden, who speaks before the president Thursday, will serve as Obama's "character witness," discussing tough decisions the commander-in-chief has made -- most notably, Obama's order to take down Usama bin Laden, campaign officials say. Former President Bill Clinton fired up the Democratic base Wednesday night in a speech that defended Obama's record, while also hitting Romney and running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, for their attacks on Obama's economic record.  "No president - not me or any of my predecessors -- could have repaired all the damage in just four years. But conditions are improving and if you'll renew the president's contract you will feel it," he said. "Last night was about his record," an Obama official said. "Tonight is about the future." Fox News' James Rosen contributed to this report.

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