Addressing the countless problems the United States faces today, Barack Obama announced recently that he would run for president. Surrounded by thousands, Obama carefully laid out the goals he has for the US and how those can be achieved.

"All of us know what those challenges are today - a war with no end, a dependence on oil that threatens our future, schools where too many children aren't learning and families struggling paycheck to paycheck despite working as hard as they can," Obama said. Obama spent a good portion of his speech relating to the "common" man. He explained that he understands that it is not fair for people to work long hours and still live in poverty. This is one issue he hopes to address.

Referring to himself as a, "tall, gangly, self-made Springfield lawyer," Obama explained that a change for the future is not only possible, but completely necessary.

Barack Obama's On-Point Message Man

On Saturday in the Lincolnesque setting of Springfield, Ill., when Barack Obama delivered his full-throated appeal to the ideals of a new generation, a lot of sharp players of the political game thought they detected something Axelrodesque.

Statehouse Yields Clues to Obama

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- As an Illinois state senator, Barack Obama was a leader in helping to tighten state ethics laws -- up to a point. When a 2003 package seemed doomed in the Senate's final hours -- with his Democratic leader among the foes -- he left the chamber to tell advocates there was nothing more he could do.