With two weeks of political conventions now done and eight weeks left until Election Day, voters undecided in the race for president are rightfully wondering when they will get the clear answers they need from President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney.
Have no doubt. To this point, incumbent Democrat Obama and Republican Romney have done stellar jobs of promising what they will achieve if they win Nov. 6. But neither is offering details of how they will achieve those promises.
Voters were reminded of that during Obama's speech accepting his party's nomination for re-election. The politician many have described as the most gifted orator elected president put forth a good speech that was part ambiguous policy promises and part pep rally.
Granted, the latter is simply what conventions have become these days, but as an incumbent -- one leading a nation (and split Congress) out of the worst recession in 70 years -- he should understand the value of providing more than just slogans and promises.
Noting specifically that his speech framed the election as "the clearest choice of any time in a generation" and "a choice between two fundamentally different visions for the future," he should have put at least a few ideas behind laudable goals involving jobs, the economy, education, energy, taxes, debt reduction and foreign policy.
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While an acceptance speech certainly isn't the place to lay out crystal-clear policies or proposals, some details about his "forward" vision would have helped, especially noting the few words he said about his first-term accomplishments.
However -- and just as his opponent did the previous week -- Obama spoke more as a politician promising his way into office than a president displaying why he should be a lock for re-election.
