Barack Obama came up with a sharp line to describe last week’s Republican convention in Tampa: “You might as well have watched it on black-and-white TV.” His phrase captured the nostalgic, 1950s feel Mitt Romney gave to the event, right down to his identification of Russia as America’s main enemy. At his own convention in Charlotte, North Carolina this week, Mr Obama will doubtless come across in high definition with his “Forward” slogan prominently trailing the screen. Many will ask, “Forward to?.?.?. what?”. The better question would be “Forward?.?.?.?but how?”

Mr Obama does in fact have a consistent economic plan that he has set out repeatedly over the past two years. It involves a mixture of stimulus and restructuring. Some Democrats think the US economy merely lacks demand – a problem that can be rectified with more stimulus. Others believe that Washington needs to reboot US competitiveness with public investment (and structural reforms). Mr Obama agrees with both, which is fine since they are not mutually exclusive. Mr Romney disagrees with both, which is also fine since elections are about choice.

Mr Obama’s bigger problem is to convince enough people he could put any of this into practice. This is where the DVR rewind button is helpful. At his euphoric “Mile High” nomination speech in Denver four years ago, Mr Obama promised to be a post-partisan president, who would bring America together. He tried that and it didn’t work. Washington’s divisions are more poisonous than ever. What Sarah Palin once mockingly described as that “hopey changey thing” would be scorned if he revived it in Charlotte.