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It took him a while to warm up, but Biden is an effective attack dog tonight, nipping at Romney's heels and setting the stage for Obama to close the show.

In front of the warmest crowd, at least in Charlotte, and following hours of praise and adulation from speakers aided by A-list speechwriters, President Obama must acknowledge the continuing hardship and anxiety millions of American families still feel.

Sixty days from now, at this hour, polls will close on the West Coast and we'll have a pretty good idea who won the presidency.

President Obama embraced the principles of the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction plan during his acceptance speech Thursday at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C. But in the same speech, he seemed to declare that some of its provisions were non-starters in his book.

The commission called for an approach that includes cuts in federal spending, increased revenue coming from lower tax rates across the board but fewer deductions and a serious look at Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. But it spelled out specific approaches in great detail.

Here’s what Obama said about some of this specifics within seconds of his new embracing of the general plan:

“I refuse to ask middle-class families to give up their deductions for owning a home or raising their kids just to pay for another millionaire's tax cut. I refuse to ask students to pay more for college or kick children out of Head Start programs to eliminate health insurance for millions of Americans who are poor and elderly or disabled, all so those with the most can pay less.”

“And…I will never turn Medicare into a voucher. No American should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies…And we will keep the promise of Social Security by taking the responsible steps to strengthen it, not by turning it over to Wall Street.”

It’s not doublespeak, one Democratic official said. The president does embrace the general framework, just not all of the dozens of specific recommendations.

But it’s difficult to see how Republicans would agree to changes they oppose without getting something in return. And Obama still seems unwilling to give Republicans the one thing they want most—an extension of tax cuts for those with the highest incomes. It’s also hard to see Obama agreeing to a deal that doesn’t raise revenues in some way.

So will Obama, if given a second term, move toward a more responsible fiscal policy, or were his remarks mere lip service in search of political gain? And will Romney and GOP congressional leaders move beyond the view that any new revenue is the equivalent of a tax hike?

The answers may be a long time in coming. But they shouldn’t be.

“The public deserves to know how both candidates plan to deal with the short-term and also the long-term budgetary problems faced by the country,” said Philip Joyce, a budget analyst for the University of Maryland.

This seems like a great topic for moderators to pursue in the three upcoming presidential debates.