Updated

Thursday night in Charlotte, Barack Obama doubled down on his liberalism, articulating the case for big government, greater regulation, and more spending (which he calls "investing"). He defined a choice that is starkly ideological, courageously embracing the left. We have not seen such positioning since the days of Mike Dukakis and Walter Mondale. And with good reason: the American people are conservative.

Asked in a recent poll, "would you rather that government get out of your way or lend you a hand?" Americans voted 54% to 35% for the government to get out of the way. It was odd to watch a president commit political suicide by so brazen and overt an embrace of the 35% and a repudiation of the 54%.

While eloquent as he accepted his party's nomination, Obama failed to go after Mitt Romney in his speech and throughout the whole Democratic convention. "The folks in Tampa," "the Republican establishment" and "the conservative Congress" all came in for a thrashing. Mitt Romney was not on the list in both Clinton and Obama's speeches. In fact, his name was hardly mentioned -- an odd occurrence in view of the over $100 million Obama has spent on ads attacking Romney.

Overall, tonight left America with the impression that Obama saved GM, killed Bin Laden, and passed ObamaCare (which most of us don't like). What a thin, thin record on which to base a plea for reelection.

The result of these two conventions is a decided advantage for Romney.