President Obama Speaks in New Orleans at the Urban League’s Annual Convention [VIDEO]

Obama announces new education program focused on African Americans

Locked in a tough re-election battle with Mitt Romney, President Barack Obama aimed to energize his core supporters – African American voters – by delivering a rousing speech and unveiling a new executive order at the Urban League’s annual convention in New Orleans Tuesday night.

The president told the largely African American crowd of roughly 3,700 people that the executive order will seek to improve educational achievement for African Americans at all levels

“so every child has greater access to a complete and competitive education from the time they’re born to the time, all through the time they get a career” the president said to cheers.

An administration official tells NBC News the order will create a new White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African-Americans that will “work across Federal agencies and with partners and communities nationwide to produce a more effective continuum of education programs for African American students.”

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Exit polls show that 95 percent of African American voters supported president Obama in 2008. Analysts believe he will need them to turn out in similarly large numbers if he hopes to win key swing states such as Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina.

The president wrapped up his remarks with a familiar plea for voters to turnout in November;

“I still believe in you and if you still believe in me I ask you stand with me. March with me. Fight with me and … I promise we will finish what we started, turn this economy around, seize our future and remind the world why the United States of America is the greatest nation on earth.”

Read more about the speech last night on NBC News