Ex-Democrat Artur Davis thinks Obama has lost his ‘halo’; has he?

"Do you know why so many of us believed? We led with our hearts and our dreams that we could be more inclusive than America had ever been, and no candidate had ever spoken so beautifully," he said.

"But dreams meet daybreak: The jobless know what I mean, so do the families who wonder how this administration could wreck a recovery for three years and counting," he said. "So many of those high-flown words have faded."

Now, said Davis, "we have a country to turn around."

Davis praised Republicans for nominating "the most experienced executive to seek the presidency in 60 years in Mitt Romney." "He has no illusions about what makes America great, and he doesn't confuse the presidency with celebrity, or loftiness with leadership," he said.

"Let's put the poetry aside, let's suspend the hype, let's come down to earth and start creating jobs again," Davis said.

"May it be said of this time in our history: 2008 to 2011: lesson learned. 2012: mistake corrected."