Obama vows in DNC speech to cut deficit, boost jobs

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- As he offers a case for his reelection Thursday night, President Obama will assert that the country can cut the federal deficit by more than $4 trillion over the next decade and will discuss a plan he says will create a million new manufacturing jobs by the next presidential election.

In a speech that hits slightly harder than expected on specific goals for a second term, Obama will pledge to work to double exports by the end of 2014 and cut net oil imports in half by 2020, according to excerpts released by his campaign.

Obama plans to frame the coming election as “a choice between two fundamentally different visions for the future.”

“You elected me to tell you the truth,” the advance text reads. “And the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades. It will require common effort, shared responsibility, and the kind of bold, persistent experimentation that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse than this one.”

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But the country’s problems can be solved, the text of Obama’s prepared remarks says.

“The path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a better place,” it reads. “I’m asking you to rally around a set of goals for your country.”

Advisors say the president labored to hit the right balance in this address, perhaps the most crucial of his presidency. He wanted to inspire and exhort his listeners much as he did in his acceptance speech in Denver in 2008, when his campaign was all about hope and promise.

Now the country is struggling with an anemic economic recovery, and Obama has to answer for the way he has governed the country over the last four years. He will talk about recent history, advisors have said, but he will also look forward to the work ahead.

Most of the goals are along the lines of goals Obama has outlined in the past. The excerpts suggest that he will renew some goals and be more specific in other promises than advisors had let on.

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He’ll ask the country to rally around a series of goals, including:

• Creating 1 million new manufacturing jobs by the end of 2016
• Doubling exports by the end of 2014
• Cutting net oil imports in half by 2020
• Supporting 600,000 natural-gas jobs by the end of the decade
• Cutting the growth of college tuition in half over the next 10 years
• Recruiting 100,000 math and science teachers over the next 10 years
• Training 2 million at community colleges for jobs
• Investing in the economy with the money we’re no longer spending on war
• Reducing the deficit by more than $4 trillion over the next decade

“But when all is said and done – when you pick up that ballot to vote – you will face the clearest choice of any time in a generation,” the speech excerpts say. “Over the next few years, big decisions will be made in Washington, on jobs and the economy; taxes and deficits; energy and education; war and peace – decisions that will have a huge impact on our lives and our children’s lives for decades to come.”

Obama in the past has proposed to cut the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 10 or 12 years by combining deep cuts in spending with higher taxes on the wealthy.

But he and Republicans in Congress have never been able to agree on a deficit reduction plan that would satisfy the GOP demands for cuts and Obama’s desire for balancing those cuts with revenue increases.

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Christi.parsons@latimes.com