Amid a deafening din Thursday night, President Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination, telling Americans he needs four more years to repair the economy, while positing the election as “a choice between two fundamentally different visions for the future.”

Obama warned in his speech that Republican rival Mitt Romney would embrace the same policies that led the nation to a near-Depression.

“When all is said and done – when you pick up that ballot to vote – you will face the clearest choice of any time in a generation,” Obama said. “Over the next few years, big decisions will be made in Washington, on jobs and the economy; taxes and deficits; energy and education; war and peace – decisions that will have a huge impact on our lives and our children’s lives for decades to come.

“On every issue, the choice you face won’t be just between two candidates or two parties. It will be a choice between two different paths for America.”

Obama’s speech culminated a well-scripted convention that was remarkable for its message discipline, with speaker after speaker exhorting voters to stay the course, to give the president more time to dig the country out of the mess he had inherited, and to trust the economic recovery he had spun in motion.

“His speech was inspiring and heartfelt, powerful and truthful,” said Marcia Knox, regional director for AFSCME Ohio Council 8. “I say he hit a home run.”

Obama’s message of staying the course — along with a warning that Romney would pursue policies favoring the wealthy, banks and corporations over everyday Americans – was espoused again Thursday night by Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the party’s 2004 presidential nominee.

Biden credited Obama with saving more than one million jobs with a controversial $87 billion bailout of General Motors and Chrysler.

“Mitt Romney grew up in Detroit,” Biden said. “His father ran American Motors. Yet he was willing to let Detroit go bankrupt. … I just don’t think he understood what saving the automobile industry meant to all of America. I think he saw it the Bain way – balance sheets, write-offs.”

Kerry called Romney an “extreme and expedient candidate who lacks the judgment and vision so vital in the Oval Office.” He said Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, are “the most inexperienced foreign policy twosome to run for president and vice president in decades.”

Facetiously turning around a question Romney often poses, Kerry said, “Ask Osama bin Laden if he is better off than he was four years ago.”

Reacting to the speech, Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades said Obama made “the case for more of the same policies that haven’t worked for the past four years. He offered more promises, but he hasn’t kept the promises he made four years ago. Americans will hold President Obama accountable for his record – they know they’re not better off and that it’s time to change direction.”

Southwest Ohio Democratic delegates reacted with the same enthusiasm that other delegates displayed. Gen Murphy said that “the president’s speech has demonstrated he has the plans to continue moving our nation forward. He has reminded us what it is at stake in this election and I’m personally inspired to get back to Dayton and work to re-elect our President who has saved the auto industry and the middle class and is a defender of women’s and LGBT rights.”

Edna Jean Harper, a Springfield delegate, said it is a “clear choice. “He will protect health care, social security, Medicare, equal pay for women.”

Jocelyn Bucaro, a delegate and deputy director of the board of elections in Butler County, said Obama hit “a home run.” “He drew a contrast, talked about his accomplishments and laid out a second term.”

Obama recited measures he took to stabilize it, including the auto bailout: “I’ve met workers in Detroit and Toledo who feared they’d never build another American car. Today, they can’t build them fast enough, because we reinvented a dying auto industry that’s back on top of the world.”

And the president said he had made the nation safer by killing bin Laden and degrading the potency of al Qaeda, while ending the war in Iraq and drawing down troops in Afghanistan.

“While my opponent would spend more money on military hardware that our Joint Chiefs don’t even want, I’ll use the money we’re no longer spending on war to pay down our debt and put more people back to work – rebuilding roads and bridges; schools and runways. After two wars that have cost us thousands of lives and over a trillion dollars, it’s time to do some nation-building right here at home.”

Republican reaction

Ohio Romney spokesman Chris Maloney called attention to the fact that Obama did not address his federal stimulus bill or health care reform in his speech, referring to “broken promises.”

“The tax costs and uncertainty created by Obamacare is making it nearly impossible for Ohio small businesses and job creators to hire new workers,” he said. “(Nationally) the unemployment rate has remained above 8 percent for a post-World War II record amount of time.”

Montgomery County Republican Party Chairman Rob Scott called the president’s speech “revisionist and delusional,” saying it ignored Obama’s record of the past 3 ½ years. Scott said he would not consider the auto bailout or the health care act a success.

“He created the culture in Washington that has caused Washington and our country to be divisive,” Scott said.

Jack Torry of the Washington Bureau and staff writer Jeremy Kelley contributed to this report