The audience filled the 1,600-seat theater, after many stood in line for hours outside, then waited patiently for over an hour inside before Obama approached the stage to speak.

Drew Daniels/Dillard Univ.

Sen. Obama at Dillard Univ.

He assured the crowd of his views and how his contrasted from other presidential hopefuls. After getting through a lengthy standing ovation and a couple well-timed 'I love you Barack' screams, Obama opened with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King stressing the "fierce urgency of now" as his inspiration for running.

"We cannot afford to wait," said Obama. "We cannot wait to fix the schools, to fix health care, to bring good jobs back and bring this war to an end."

Right in line with the hallmarks of his campaign, Obama said togetherness is was convinces him that things can change.

"Ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they're given a chance," said Obama.

Education is an issue that will have a huge hand in how the next generation competes internationally.

Obama said he worries that American children are not able to compete internationally for jobs or in the realm of education,  and that graduation rates are very low.

Those who have graduated from school have shown to have a relatively low reading level. In order to change this, Obama plans to invest in early childhood education from birth through college graduation.

He proposes giving a $4,000 tuition credit to college students in exchange for doing community service.

"We'll invest in young people, they'll invest in America and together we'll march forward," Obama said.

 In improving the quality of education, he wants to increase teacher salaries, abandon the No Child Left Behind Act and increase knowledge in math, art, music, science and reading.

Obama's views on the economy, the impending recession and the struggling job market were tied directly to President Bush's "ownership society" and feels it has started a "you're on your own" society.

"There's no such thing as a thriving Wall Street and a crumbling Main Street," Obama said. He wants to bring jobs back here from overseas.

He also proposes putting an end to home foreclosures and providing mortgage tax credit as a form of relief to those who have lost their homes, and he wants to implement a foreclosure prevention plan. 

Obama said foreclosures lead to a decrease in property value, which leads to a decrease in purchases, which causes the economy to become stagnant. The economy has also been heavily effected by the war in Iraq. 

The presidential hopeful used the war in Iraq in his speech as a way to hammer home the fact that he was against it from the start and to comment on Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

"Why spend a billion dollars on a war when we can keep that money here?" Obama asked, adding that he wants to end the war starting in 2009. Obama said he wants the troops to return to Afghanistan and give them adequate training. There are two wars going on, he said, the one we have been distracted from and the one involving Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden.

Obama assured the audience that, if need be, he would do whatever it took to protect our country in the event someone brought harm to us but he doesn't believe in fighting a hundred year war and continuing failed policies of our previous president as his opponent, McCain, has insisted on.

LaShawn Parker writes for the North Carolina A&T student newspaper, The Register, which originally published this article.

Mike McCray, editor in chief of The Register, also contributed to this story.