Every American should be able to graduate from college without massive debts, said Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama at a rally Tuesday.
"We should make [college] affordable and accessible for every American because it is what the American dream is built on," the Illinois senator said.
Obama spoke Tuesday night to a crowd of mostly young people, including students from AU, at the City Center Lot at 11th and H streets. He stood on a raised platform, around which the crowd circled.
The layout was a great idea, said Heidi Davis, a sophomore in the School of Communication and director of communication and media for the AU Chapter of Students for Obama.
"It gave a lot more people the chance to see him from the front row," she said.
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty introduced Obama, whom he has endorsed.
"Barack Obama has challenged conventional experience in Washington," Fenty said, noting Obama's support of the failed legislation that would have given D.C. a full voting member in the House of Representatives.
Obama challenged Republicans who say he doesn't have the necessary Washington experience to be president, noting his experience as a community organizer in Chicago and in the Illinois State Senate.
He said Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld have impressive resumes but still led the country into one of the worst foreign policy decisions ever, the Iraq war.
"Longevity doesn't assure good judgment," he said.
He also attacked the other more experienced Democrats, saying that having a Democrat in the White House would not be change enough.
"Real change will start by putting an end to the Bush-Cheney policies," he said. "The changes that we're looking for go beyond political party."
Pacing around the platform to speak to different sections of the audience, Obama stressed his emphasis on the hopes of the U.S. people.
"I don't believe our better days are behind us - I believe our better days are ahead of us," he said.
Politics is not just a game - it's a mission and must be based on the idea that "I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper," he said.
"The idea that we've got a stake in each other has been missing in politics for so long," he said.
Obama also discussed the Iraq war, which he said he has opposed since it began. There is no military solution to the conflict, so the United States must "double down on," or emphasize diplomacy and deal with the millions of refugees from the country.
"We can be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in," he said.
Obama ended his speech with a story about a campaign stop in Greenville, S.C. He was cranky from having little sleep and it was raining, he said. After driving an hour and a half to the tiny town, he found only 20 equally grumpy supporters.
Suddenly, he said, a voice came from nowhere saying, "Fired up?" The supporters responded, "Fired up!" The voice then said, "Ready to go?" and the supporters said, "Ready to go!"
The voice belonged to an elderly woman who was a member of the city council in Greenville, Obama said. He said her "Fired Up? Ready to go?" chant was famous in the town.
Obama said this chant is an example of how one voice can change the world: If one voice can change a city council, a city council can change a state, a state can change a nation and a nation can change the world.
The anecdote was the most powerful part of the speech, Davis said.
"I thought that was a very powerful conclusion that stuck with me and everyone else who was there," she said.
Obama concluded his speech with words he hopes to carry to fruition: "Let's go change the world"
