President Obama addresses packed Robins Center

In an address similar to the one given just a night before to Congress, President Barack Obama highlighted the need for the passage of his American Jobs Act to a packed Robins Center Friday morning.

While the majority of his roughly 25-minute speech dealt with possible job creation and tax rates, Obama did take time to address students. After making sure that they were having fun in college, Obama changed his tone to serious as he asked them to help prevent America from falling behind countries such as China and India.

"I'm glad you're having fun, but you need to hit the books," Obama said, drawing laughter and applause from the audience. "You're competing against kids in Bangalore and kids in Beijing and you can't avoid those math classes and those engineering classes and those science classes. We've got to focus. Everybody has got to up their game."

The majority of Obama's speech followed that same mode of him showing the lighter side of his personality that helped him get elected, while also addressing some serious problems facing America.

One of those problems that Obama chose to highlight in his speech was the need for more funding for education. That plea started before Obama took the stage as Nigel Richardson, a senior at Richmond Community High School, described the benefits of more funding as an introduction for the president.

Obama soon addressed the need for more teachers, which he hopes will be achieved through the passage of his American Jobs Act, by recounting a story.

"In the back, I was taking some photos with folks who helped out in organizing this event," Obama said, "and there was a young lady who was a teacher. She said, 'I heard your speech last night and I really appreciate it. I teach eighth grade English and I teach in a trailer.'

"We shouldn't have people teaching in trailers. We shouldn't have kids learning in trailers. They should have classrooms with Internet and science labs."

Obama said that in order to get the plan approved, he needed the help of all Americans. He encouraged them to contact their representatives by any means -- whether via email or even carrier pigeons -- to demand that they pass the American Jobs Act. The Robins Center broke out into some of the loudest cheering, which forced Obama to raise his voice in order to be heard, even before Obama could finish to list the ways that people could contact their representatives.

The line to enter the Robins Center started hours before the president got to Richmond and once inside, the crowd was very responsive to the president.

While Obama was waving to the crowd after being introduced, a women in the audience shouted her love to Obama.

"I love you too," Obama said in response, which drew even louder cheers for the president.

Throughout his speech, people cheered in agreement or shouted "Amen" or "Hear, hear." Many times, Obama had to take a break from speaking in order for the crowd to settle down after a round of applause.

Obama drew a big reaction while talking about the need for higher taxes on the wealthy. He emphasized the importance of reducing the stress on the middle- and lower-class families while asking that the wealthy and large corporations do their "fair-share" of paying taxes.

"I understand that nobody likes to pay taxes," Obama said. "I understand, I pay a lot of taxes ... so I understand that. But we've always lived based on the principle that everybody's got to do their fair share.

"We got to make some choices. We have to decide on our priorities, we have to ask ourselves 'What is not just best for me, but what's best for us?'"

Obama continued: "That's not class warfare, I'm not attacking anybody. It's simple math. We can't afford for the folks who are most fortunate to do the least and put the largest burden on the folks who are struggling the most."

Although much of Obama's speech centered around his American Jobs Act, he also stressed the importance of having a stable economy in the long term.

"We have to start looking beyond the immediate crisis and start building an economy that lasts," he said. "An economy that's not built on housing bubbles, not built on easy credit, not built on Wall Street shenanigans. But an economy that creates good middle-class jobs that pay well and restore some sense of security."

Contact staff writer Andrew Prezioso at andrew.prezioso@richmond.edu