Having hope for change in the U.S. government is not naive or foolish, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told an audience at the Toyota Center on Tuesday night.
"Nothing worthwhile in this country has ever happened except (when) somebody, somewhere was willing to hope," Obama said.
He said he wants to give hope back to middle class Americans, which means things in the White House would be done differently in regards to both domestic and foreign policy.
Though not a U.S. senator at the time, Obama was against sending troops to Iraq in 2002.
He also said if he were president the Iraq war would not go on another 100 years like Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has said, but an end would be in sight by the end of his first year in the White House.
"I opposed this war in 2002 (and) I will bring this war to an end in 2009," Obama said.
The health care system in America is broken and biased, he said, but he has plans to change the system by the end of his first term so that all Americans can have a health care plan.
Obama also said that education is not valued enough in the U.S. He said he wants to ensure every child has a proper education from when he or she enters school until he or she graduates.
"Houston, I’m here to tell you that every child is our problem, every child is our responsibility," Obama said.
Changing the policies and politics of the government will not be easy, but it can happen, Obama said.
Obama also urged Texans to either vote early, which began Feb. 19 and will continue through Feb. 29, or vote in the Texas primary on March 4.
"(I’m) convinced change in America does not happen from the top down, it happens from the bottom up," Obama said.
With the help of voters in the Texas primary and people across the nation who yearn for a change, Obama said he would win the 2008 election and change the U.S. for the better.
"It will not be easy, but at some point in our lives we all have to decide – as hard as it’s going to be, we are going to join together and go about the noble but difficult task of remaking this nation, block by block, county by county, state by state," he said.
