The Democratic conventionPrivate effort, common goodDemocrats and Republicans are now arguing over who can best be trusted with the American DreamSep 8th 2012 | CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA| from the print editionBARACK OBAMAS Republican challengers have a plan for defeating the president. They want to confront him with a question so weighty that he cannot use his charm, personal popularity or powers of lofty rhetoric to escape from it, namely: is America better off today than it was four years ago, when he took office?For some months Mr Obama and the Democratic Party have struggled to craft a response, seemingly hesitating to run on the presidents record at a time of high unemployment, soaring energy prices and other indicators of tough times for ordinary Americans. Instead, the Democratic campaign has been largely negative, blaming the Republicans for leaving behind a mess when they lost the White House in 2008, and attacking their presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, as an out-of-touch capitalist raider.In this sectionPrivate effort, common goodUrban nationAnd then there was oneThe good old waysVive la rvolutionBreathing roomShindig fatigueReprintsRelated topicsPolitical familiesU.S. Democratic Party PoliticsPoliticsPolitical partiesGovernment and politicsThat unimpressive stalemate budged a bit this week, as Democrats gathered in Charlotte in the battleground state of North Carolina from September 4th-6th for their national convention. True, the meeting offered its fair share of cheap shots at Mr Romney (were the Republican candidate Santa Claus, one speaker suggested, he would “fire the reindeer and outsource the elves”). It left questions unanswered about how Mr Obama, in a second term, might tackle Americas looming crisis of debt and public spending. Indeed, too many of the governors, senators, congressmen and union bosses invited to speak seemed to see no crisis at all, as they hailed the importance of continued government spending (or “investment”) on everything from new infrastructure to preserving middle-class jobs.But, more interestingly, leading Democrats attempted a political and philosophical counter-attack, directly tackling arguments unveiled by Republicans at their own convention the week before in Florida. That gathering had heard repeated calls for smaller government, less regulation, lower taxes and an end to what conservative speakers called un-American levels of welfare and redistribution.In Charlotte several speakers, among them a former president, Bill Clinton, the First Lady, Michelle Obama, and a young Hispanic mayor from Texas, Julin Castro, accused todays Republicans of misrepresenting the American dream, and even their partys own traditions. Speaker after speaker reached into their countrys mythic past to paint a communitarian vision of American success. The mayor of Minneapolis hailed “pioneer ancestors” who had not settled the prairies alone but in wagon trains. Success in America was a “relay”, not a lone marathon, said Mr Castro. The governor of Colorado declared that western history was not just about “rugged individuals” but communities coming together to “raise barns”.Mr Clinton gave a bravura speech that deftly recalled Mr Obamas nasty primary fight with Mrs Clinton, but turned it into a positive by noting that Mr Obama now pragmatically worked with his former party rival. The 42nd president, who enjoys high approval ratings from a public that remembers his two terms as a time of prosperity, solemnly painted the present-day Republican Party as captured by a hate-filled far-right and living in an “alternative universe” in which all those who have achieved success are “completely self-made”. This he suggested, ignored a centrist case for business and government working together to promote growth and “broadly share prosperity”.For her part, Mrs Obama gave an unusually partisan speech for a First Lady, taking swipes at the privileged background and competence of Mr Romney, which she contrasted with the humble upbringings of her and her husband. More interestingly, she also queried Republican arguments about the individualistic nature of American success.Republicans have spent weeks attacking Mr Obama for a garbled remark in July in which he appeared to say that successful entrepreneurs “didnt build” their firmsthough in truth he was making a more complicated (but still pretty statist) point about the importance of good schools, roads and other public infrastructure. Their convention in Tampa rang to angry cries of “We did build it.”In Charlotte, Mrs Obama attempted to recast that Republican slogan as betraying bad manners and ingratitude. She and the president had been brought up to be grateful and humble and to remember that many people had a hand in their success, “from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean”, she said. She described how her father had hardly missed a day of work despite suffering from multiple sclerosis, a