LIVE BLOG: Madeleine Albright at University of Richmond

Welcome to The Collegian's Live-blog!

4:54 p.m. -- Albright exits. Thanks for following the event with us!

4:52 p.m. -- Albright thanked everyone. Said she was born in Czechoslovakia and said she was proud of being able to say she's part of the United States. She says the U.S. image abroad has slipped very badly and people think it's a bad country.

"Obama represents the best of America and the American dream," she said. "We are about to turn power over peacefully for the 44th time. No country in the world has ever done that. I promote and support democracy abroad. I've seen elections in other countries and we have this amazing opportunity and privilege to go out and vote. We know that Virginia can make a huge difference here. I consider myself a very patriotic American."

She says it's unpatriotic not to ask questions, a reference to some of the McCain camp's statements. "We need to elect someone who understands what our role is abroad and have government reflect the best of American people," she says.

-- Kimberly Leonard

4:50 p.m. -- Albright responds by saying the United Nations needs reforming. She says Obama has talked about the U.N. as a good multilateral forum, but mentions that the United States was in a difficult position to put anything forward regarding reform. -- Kimberly Leonard

4:48 p.m. -- Question: What does Obama plan to do with the United Nations?

4:46 p.m. -- Foreign policy doesn't come in four-year segments. The rest of the world thinks about it in different terms. The person who is president needs to take from the previous administration. The Bush people have gone through an ideological period where they disregarded everything we did and now they're going back and seeing that diplomacy is useful. It's going to be difficult for Obama to fix this. We have to have a president capable of restoring America's leadership. We have national interests that require the cooperation of other countries. Applause.

-- Kimberly Leonard

4:45 p.m. -- How would you summarize the lessons of the Bush years?

4:44 p.m. -- Albright says Democrats believe government can be on your side, GOP believes you have to get government off your back. Electing Democrats is about getting government to give people the things they want, she says. Albright mentions the community organizer part of Obama, something Republicans, particularly Gov. Sarah Palin, has said shows his inexperience. Albright counters, saying Obama sees that in communal action there can be a difference.

"The magic of America is the combination of individual action put togehter with the government's willingness to help others," Albright says.

-- Dan Petty and Kimberly Leonard

4:41 p.m. -- On Hurricane Ike, one man asks: "McCain said we need to be there for people in times of crisis. We have a lot of crisis right now. I would like to hear Obama talk about preventative modes more than crisis reaction."

4:40 p.m. -- Fourth question: How can we deal with Russia? Albright says there has been a mythology that we didn't treat the Russians with enough respect after the Cold War. NATO was not anti-Russian, she says. She calls for a relationship with Russia that looks at issues where we should cooperate, and then push back when they do things like take over another country.

-- Kimberly Leonard

4:36 p.m. -- What can we take from Rwanda, one person asks. Albright says it's the responsiblity of the international community to protect people inside the country if the leaders of that country aren't doing it. There aren't people set up to deal with the problems, she says. I don't think we could have gotten people there fast enough. She will present to Obama about how to deal with genocide.

-- Kimberly Leonard

4:31 p.m. -- Obama shows a sophistication with how to deal with people you don't like, Albright says. "I believe you should talk to people you don't like," she said, lauding his "sophisticated package" for dealing with Iran. It requires preparations, cooperation and people on the other side to sit down with you, she says, adding that you don't take the use of force off the table.

"I think his sophistication and understanding of the issue shows he knows how to make that mix and match," Albright says. Says that Obama has made clear that he will make the United States involved in dealing with the Israel-Palestine issue, too.

-- Kimberly Leonard

4:29 p.m. -- A man who says he's from Sudan goes to the mic and asks how to deal with problems in his country. Albright said we should not be afraid of any one group. We need to be clear about what is unacceptable behavior, and killing people simply because of who they are is unacceptable, she says.

-- Kimberly Leonard

4:19 p.m. -- Albright: "We can't divide the world into us and them. We can't decide we do things all by ourselves. You need to build alliances." That last answer elicits strong applause from the crowd.

Albright's first mention of Obama: She says he has a "21st century approach to the world, has studied issues very carefully and has wisdom and judgment. I don't want a president that is certain. A confident president is someone who wants to hear lots of ideas and opinions."

--Dan Petty

4:16 p.m.-- Albright boldly states that "Iraq is going to go down as the greatest disaster in American foreign policy," drawing applause from the crowd. She said it was worse than Vietnam, in terms of unintended consequences.

--Dan Petty

4:12 p.m.-- Third issue: "You can't impose democracy. You can support democracy," Albright said. "We have to restore name of democracy."

Fourth issue: Globalization. She says we need to mitigate the negative aspects of globalization, mentioning the growing gap between the rich and the poor. That's a point that Obama and Biden have mentioned recently as the U.S. economy continues to slide deeper into a recession. But she also mentions that poor people in volatile countries who think the system isn't giving them anything are most likely to be recruited by terrorists.

-- Dan Petty

4:09 p.m.-- Albright: "Clearly people out there who want to kill us. They are murderers." She mentions Marriot Hotel incident in Pakistan.

"We know there are terrorist groups out there. We have to figure out how not to talk about a world of us versus them. We need to focus more on the people who are trying to kill us.

-- Dan Petty

4:04 p.m. -- Albright on stage. Crowd stands in ovation.

-- Dan Petty

3:59 p.m. -- Sophomore Alice McAlexander, who is taking a semester off to work on Obama's campaign, spoke at the lectern, acknowledging volunteers and asking members of the audience to help elect Obama. Ashely Dermer introduced Emily Miller and announced there would be a question and answer portion at the end of Albright's talk.

-- Kimberly Leonard

3:49 p.m.-- Howson says Albright has arrived in the building, but isn't on stage yet.

-- Dan Petty

3:43 p.m.-- University of Richmond Students for Barack Obama group are sitting in the front row. Rasheed Nazeri held up a sign that read "Hope, Change, Judgment." The crowd cheered.

-- Kimberly Leonard

3:38 p.m. -- Capacity is almost full, despite the university's inability to promote this event. School officials can't send out media advisories and other materials announcing the event because only the Obama side is represented.

-- Dan Petty

3:28 p.m. -- David Howson, associate director of the Modlin Center for the Arts, told us the program will begin a little later because Albright is still on the highway.

-- Kimberly Leonard

3:13 p.m. -- Crowd applauds when stagehands place Obama '08 sign on lectern. -- Dan Petty

3:12 p.m. -- Hi everyone. I'm Dan Petty, the online editor of The Collegian. Along with Kimberly Leonard, the online managing editor, and David Larter, the online community reporter, we're covering the Madeleine Albright event at Camp Concert Hall here on campus. Alex Donoho is photographing, Kimberly and I will be blogging live throughout the event, and David is writing a long-form article for later. Already, we're near 80 percent capacity. She's not scheduled to speak for another 20 minutes.

-- Dan Petty

Contact staff writers Dan Petty and Kimberly Leonard at dan.petty@richmond.edu and kimberly.leonard@richmond.edu