A portrait of a humane, tender-hearted Mitt Romney emerged on Thursday at the Republican National Convention, even as he urged Americans to punish Barack Obama for his broken promises about a brighter future by voting him out of office on Nov. 6.
"I accept your nomination for president of the United States," a teary-eyed Romney told cheering delegates, many of whom were long cool toward his candidacy. "I do so with humility, deeply moved by the trust you've placed in me."
Romney took aim at Obama's record, saying Americans deserved better than the president.
"Hope and change had a powerful appeal," Romney said.
"But tonight I'd ask a simple question: If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn't you feel that way now that he's President Obama? You know there's something wrong with the kind of job he's done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him."
The prime-time speech was clearly aimed at the disaffected Obama voters tuning into the convention, rather than the thousands of like-minded Republicans gathered in Tampa, as Romney reiterated time and again: Obama is a failure.
"I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed," Romney said.
"But his promises gave way to disappointment and division. This isn't something we have to accept.
"Now is the moment when we can stand up and say: 'I'm an American. I make my destiny. And we deserve better. My children deserve better. My family deserves better. My country deserves better.' "
Romney's speech had two goals: to forcefully make the case that his private-sector experience makes him the better man than Obama to pull the country out of its economic morass, and also to give wary Americans a glimpse of his heart and soul.
A video segment featuring home movies of Romney cuddling and playing with his young boys also pulled at the heartstrings of delegates.
Romney, in his second bid for the party's nomination, spent much of the day tinkering with his speech, ensuring he got it just right. Long hesitant to delve into his faith - a point of contention for some Christian evangelicals in the party's base - Romney was report-edly determined not to shy away from his Mormonism at the convention.
A common practice in Mormon churches is to help church members move house and "to help each other out in different ways," Romney said.
"And that's how it is in America. We look to our communities, our faiths, our families for our joy, our support, in good times and bad."
Romney's speech was preceded by a slew of marquee speakers on the convention's closing night - including Hollywood movie star Clint Eastwood, who provided the weirdest moment of the convention as he assured the crowd not all actors are "lefter than Lenin."
"There are 23 million unemployed people in this country, and that is a disgrace," Eastwood said before thrilling the crowd with a bizarre pretend conversation with an invisible Obama.
