President Obama plans to watch first lady Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday from the White House with their two daughters.
"I'm going to be at home and I'm going to be watching it with our girls and I'm going to try not to let them see their daddy cry," Obama said Tuesday during a campaign rally in Norfolk, Va. "Because when Michelle starts talking I start getting all misty. But I'm looking forward to being in Charlotte myself."
Obama is slated to deliver his convention speech on Thursday and he hinted at the themes he will touch on during his Norfolk stop.
"On Thursday night I will offer, what I believe, is a better path forward," said the president. "A path that will create good jobs and strengthen our middle class and grow our economy."
Obama also took aim at Mitt Romney's speech from the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., last week, knocking the GOP presidential nominee for failing to make any mention of the troops or the war in Afghanistan.
"By the end of this month I will have brought home 33,000 troops," Obama said. "I've said we will end this war in 2014. Gov. Romney didn't have a word to say about Afghanistan. He said the way I ended the war in Iraq was tragic. Listen, I promised I'd end the war in Iraq and I did. I said we'd take out bin Laden and we did."
Obama said Republicans had focused on attacking him rather than offering new solutions, and warned voters to expect a barrage of negative attacks ahead of Election Day.
"Over these next two months, over these next 63 days, you will see more negative ads, more insults and distractions and baloney than you've ever seen," said Obama. "And it'll be supported by $10 million checks by wealthy donors that like things just the way they are. And they're counting on you, maybe not to vote for Romney, but maybe to feel discouraged."
Obama's reelection campaign has struggled to keep pace with Romney's fundraising and has seen Democratic-leaning super-PACs heavily outspent on the air by their Republican counterparts.
Obama said "on issue after issue," Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), want to take us backward."
"But the story is not about going backwards, it's about going forward," he continued. "And in two months you will actually choose whether or not we will travel that path."
