WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards spent much of his address to Democratic National Committee members Friday urging Congress to use its power to stop a troop increase in Iraq, saying the non-binding resolution condemning the president's policy does not go far enough.

"We cannot be satisfied with passing nonbinding resolutions that we know this president will ignore," Edwards told party faithful in the Washington Hilton ballroom. "We have the power to stop the escalation of this war."

Edwards did not point out any other candidate by name when he criticized Congress for not taking further steps to end the war, but both Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois -- among the frontrunners for the Democratic nomination -- have backed the nonbinding resolution that Edwards criticized.

"It is betrayal not to stop the president's plan when we have the responsibility, the power, and the actual tools to prevent it," Edwards told the cheering crowd.

The Democrats' 2004 vice presidential nominee has spent the early stages of his second presidential campaign repeatedly calling for more congressional action against the president's Iraq policy, while urging the party to embrace some of its more liberal principles.

"We don't need to redefine the Democratic Party, we need to reclaim the Democratic Party," Edwards said to a standing ovation, one of five he received during his speech.