President Obama is working furiously on his Democratic convention speech, set to take place Wednesday night, and plans to set up a “stark” choice for voters in November between continuing on the path he set or taking the country backward, the White House said Tuesday.

After first lady Michelle Obama “set the bar very high,” delivering a rousing address that earned rave reviews from convention-goers, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Obama was up late Monday night working on his own remarks because the “stakes are high in this campaign and the choice for voters couldn’t be starker.”