DENVER — Al Gore on Thursday said that as the man who lost to President Bush in 2000 he knows firsthand the problems of the last eight years, and told the Democratic convention the country must reject Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
“The same policies all over again? Hey, I believe in recycling, but that’s ridiculous,” said Mr. Gore, former vice president and the Democrats’ 2000 presidential nominee, who was introduced to the audience as a Nobel Peace Prize winner for his work on global warming.
Reprising that work, Mr. Gore warned that “sea levels are rising, fires are raging,” and said the country is facing a battle between Mr. Obama and forces trying to keep him from making changes.
“I believe this election is close today mainly because the forces of the status quo are desperately afraid of the change Barack Obama represents,” Mr. Gore said.
Mr. Gore, who some Democrats had hoped last year would jump into the election himself, instead said Mr. Obama is ready for the presidency, and compared him to Abraham Lincoln, who had eight years in the Illinois legislature and a term in Congress before winning the White House.
“In 2008, once again, we find ourselves at the end of an era with a mandate from history to launch another new beginning. And once again, we have a candidate whose experience perfectly matches an extraordinary moment of transition,” Mr. Gore said.
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