Nashua – Illinois senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama called for not just a change of political party in the White House but for big sweeping changes on how politics in the country is done.

Addressing an audience of nearly 800 at a town hall-style meeting yesterday at the pond at Merritt Parkway, Obama said that during his travels around the country, he has met a cross-section of the United States that is fed up with how things are currently being done.

"People are coming out because this country is in desperate need for change," Obama said.

Speaking on behalf of the people he's met, Obama criticized the health care system, calling it broken, and the educational system, which isn't properly funded.

Obama also spoke of his frustration with the war in Iraq, which he said should have never have been authorized and has not made the United States any safer. It has also diminished the country's standing in the world.

The outcome in Iraq will depend on how the situation is handled, Obama said. The longer the conflict is stretched out, the greater a chance the region will descend into chaos.

Citing Sen. Joe Biden's proposal to partition Iraq into three regions, Obama said if it were to happen, the idea must come from the Iraqis and not the United States.

Even after that, there will need to be a troop presence in the region, Obama said, but not necessarily in Iraq.

Obama also addressed some criticism his opponents have directed at him recently.

In response to attacks that he is a "hope-peddler" or "hope-monger," Obama said, "I stand guilty as charged. I am hopeful. I am optimistic." Regarding his statement that, as president, he would be willing to meet with leaders of rogue nations, he said, "I'm not worried about losing a propaganda war with a dictator." In addition to his town hall-style meeting in Nashua, Obama had campaign stops in Hanover and Keene yesterday.

At the end of his meeting in Nashua, Obama said voters can anticipate to see much more of him in the future and joked that he would get "Live free or die" tattooed onto his back.

Obama also praised the state's first in the nation primary for providing due diligence in the selection for the next president.