Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) speaks at a “Stand for Change” rally at the University of Maryland-College Park

Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) held a “Stand for Change” rally today at the University of Maryland- College Park’s Comcast Center to a crowd of more than 18,000. The rally was organized by a group of college students known as Democrats for Obama The crowd was heavily dominated by college-age students, yet spectators of all ages were present. The crowd’s excitement did not wane for the more than two hours they waited for Obama’s appearance.

His speech was not focused on any one topic, but it was more of a crowd-pleaser aimed at rallying the people’s support. Obama deflected opponents’ comments about his lack of experience, jokingly stating, “I may be skinny, but I can fight.” He also distanced himself from Vice President Dick Cheney in response to the recent genealogical study which found that the two are distantly related. Senator Obama poked fun at Cheney, to much applause, saying, “Usually, when people do these studies, you want to end up being related to someone cool.”

Another interesting issue that Senator Obama discussed was that of education. He drew attention to the fact that aside from all of the current administration’s propaganda, many children were being left behind. The many topics addressed were the inability of intelligent students to afford higher education, teachers being forced to pay for school supplies out of their own pockets, and possible $4000 vouchers to cover some tuition costs for students enrolled in universities.