Gore endorses Obama, warns 'elections matter'

DETROIT, Michigan (CNN) - Former Vice President Al Gore endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Monday, urging Americans to reject what he called the Bush administration's legacy of "incompetence, negligence and failure."

"Americans simply cannot afford to continue the policies of the last eight years for another four," Gore, the party's 2000 presidential nominee, told Obama supporters at a Detroit rally.

Gore took direct aim at criticism by some that the 46-year-old freshman senator from Illinois lacks the experience necessary for the job by citing similar criticisms of John F. Kennedy, who was two years younger than Obama is now when he took the oath of office in 1961.

"To exclude from positions of trust and command all those below the age of 44 would have kept Jefferson from writing the Declaration of Independence, Washington from commanding the Continental Army, Madison from fathering the Constitution and Christopher Columbus from even discovering America," said Gore, who lost to George W. Bush in the bitterly fought 2000 contest.