By CAROL E. LEE And LAURA MECKLER
CHARLOTTE, N.C.â€"President Barack Obama, in a speech Thursday accepting his party's nomination for re-election, planned to propose goals for a second term that center on a revival of the U.S. economy.
"I'm asking you to rally around a set of goals for your countryâ€"goals in manufacturing, energy, education, national security, and the deficit; a real, achievable plan that will lead to new jobs, more opportunity, and rebuild this economy on a stronger foundation," Mr. Obama was to say, according to advance excerpts of his speech. "That's what we can do in the next four years, and that's why I'm running for a second term as president of the United States."
The president's prime-time address caps a three-day Democratic National Convention that focused on the economic struggles of the middle class. He was expected to present voters with a second-term agenda that called on government to help create jobs and ease education costs for many Americans.
The goals, as detailed in his speech excerpts, reflected a shrunken vision compared with the sweeping plans of his 2008 speech, which had included "affordable, accessible health care for every single American," immigration reform and "energy independence."
Mr. Obama did sign a broad health overhaul but hasn't been able to move immigration legislation through Congress.
Some goals he has proposed before, such as the doubling of exports by 2014. Mr. Obama in his 2010 State of the Union address called for doubling exports over five years.
He also planned in his speech Thursday to call for creating one million manufacturing jobs by 2016, which would largely be an extension of the trend over the past two years.
Mr. Obama was to say he wanted to reduce the deficit by more than $ 4 trillion over the next decade, which appeared to echo what he announced in a plan last year.
On energy, he planned to set a goal of cutting oil imports in half by 2020.
He was also to set a goal of cutting the growth of college tuition in half, recruiting 100,000 math and science teachers and training two million workers at community colleges.
Mr. Obama, who was elected to a first term with high expectations, sought to temper them this time around.
"I won't pretend the path I'm offering is quick or easy," Mr. Obama was to say. "You didn't elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. You elected me to tell you the truth. And the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades."
Democrats at the convention this week said Mr. Obama had put the U.S. on the path to recovery, and he would fight hardest for striving workers and the middle-class.
Republicans are seeking to convince voters that the president has increased deficits without giving enough of a boost to the U.S. economy to earn a second term.
Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who has kept a low profile this week as he prepared for coming debates, said Thursday he expected Mr. Obama to offer empty promises during the speech and didn't plan to watch.
"I saw the promises last time," Mr. Romney said during a campaign stop in Concord, N.H. "Those are promises he did not keep."
The president said he did not watch Mr. Romney's convention speech, either.
Mr. Obama's planned address followed distinct but complementary speeches by first lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday and former President Bill Clinton on Wednesday.
Mrs. Obama talked of how her husband's modest upbringing shaped his view of government, hoping to highlight his biggest assetâ€"the president's likability among Americansâ€"over his biggest weakness, the lackluster performance of the U.S. economy.
Mr. Clinton, who will campaign for the president next week in Florida and Ohio, argued that the U.S. has made progress since the financial crisis of four years ago, responding to Republican charges that Mr. Obama had mishandled the economy. Mr. Clinton's long rebuttal to GOP charges Wednesday frees the president in the coming weeks to spend more time telling voters his plan to improve their lives, senior Obama officials said.
"The ball is teed up for Barack Obama to say, 'This is what I'm going to do in the future,' " Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Thursday.
One of Mr. Obama's challenges in the weeks before the November election will be to carry the enthusiasm of the party's convention to core supporters around the country, as well as independent voters.
"This past week gives us significant momentum," said Rep. Steve Israel (D., N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "We'll see whether it's sustained."
At the same time, Mr. Obama's aides tried to lower expectations for a spike in national polls following this week's convention.
The Obama campaign had tried to recapture some of the atmospherics of the president's 2008 convention speech, which energized voters.
The initial setting for Thursday's acceptance speech was an outdoor football stadium arranged to seat 65,000 supporters. But organizers moved the speech indoors under the threat of thunderstorms.
Mr. Obama faces the task of reconnecting with voters who had supported him in 2008 but now don't feel they are any better off since his inauguration.
Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan said that if given another four years in office, Mr. Obama would leave the U.S. as a "welfare state with a debt crisis."
"President Obama can give great speeches, he can blame other people in the past, but he can't tell you we are better off as a nation," Mr. Ryan said Thursday ahead of Mr. Obama's speech.
The campaign sought to rebut such criticism by releasing an online video Thursday that said the president had accomplished the goals he set in 2008 to cut taxes, end the war in Iraq, sign legislation overhauling the health insurance system and move toward equal pay for women.
Mr. Obama was expected in his address Thursday to say that because he followed through on past promises, voters can trust him.
â€"Janet Hook and Sara Murray contributed to this article.Write to Carol E. Lee at carol.lee@wsj.com and Laura Meckler at laura.meckler@wsj.com
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