DURHAM, N.H. -- In a gymnasium whose atmosphere resembled that of a rock concert more than that of a political lecture, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who recently announced his presidential candidacy, delivered a campaign speech to a crowd of over 1,000 at the University of New Hampshire on Monday night.
Obama began the town hall-style meeting by commenting on domestic healthcare and education, dependency on foreign oil, the threat of terrorism and the global energy crisis.
"We are confronting a set of challenges that will not only determine how we do in the next two years, the next five years, we confront a set of decisions about the direction of our country that is going to determine where we go for the next generation and we know what those challenges are," Obama said. "I believe that I am the voice of a new generation of leadership."
But before confronting the problems facing the nation, Obama said, a president must deal with the war in Iraq.
"We are now in the midst of a war that should never have been authorized and should have never been fought," Obama said.
"There is not a military solution to the sectarian civil war [in Iraq], the solution must be political," he added.
Obama did not detail his solutions to healthcare, education and the war in Iraq. But in the question-and-answer session following his half-hour speech, he did outline his plan for increased energy efficiency, which included a cap-and-trade strategy that would use market forces to incentivize responsible energy use, increased fuel efficiency standards and the development biofuels.
Obama, who officially entered the Democratic presidential primary in Springfield, Ill., Saturday, visited Chicago and Iowa before coming to the Granite State.
He immediately follows behind Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and former Democratic Sen. John Edwards, who both visited the first-in-the-nation primary state over the last two weeks.
Obama met with eager crowds on his visits to Concord, Nashua and Durham Monday, one day after Democratic front-runner Clinton made the rounds in Manchester, Nashua and Keene at town hall and house gathering campaign events.
At UNH, Obama detailed his past accomplishments in both his initial speech and during the question-and-answer session that followed.
Obama has faced skepticism as a result of his relative inexperience in Washington. Obama is currently serving his first term as a junior senator. Prior to being elected to the Senate in 2004, Obama served as a member of the Illinois state legislature, was a community leader in Chicago and taught constitutional law at Harvard Law School.
"If your criteria for leadership is how long you've been in Washington, then I am not your choice, but I have been in Washington long enough to know that Washington needs a change," Obama said. "I think that my work as a community leader is relevant, I think that teaching constitutional law is relevant, as we have been ignoring the constitution for the past six years.
Obama went on to detail his work in the Senate on nuclear non-proliferation treaties and ethics reforms, as well as his work reforming the death penalty and the juvenile justice and welfare systems in Illinois.
He concluded by expressing his hopes for the future of American politics, describing his desire for presidential race that remains free of triviality and artificiality.
"America has woken up, people want a return to a common sense political solution for solving problems," Obama said. "I hope that this campaign becomes a vehicle for your hopes and dreams. I think I can run this country, but I cannot do it alone."
Obama will return to the Senate this week.
