President Barack Obama implored Americans to help Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump, warning the 2016 race was not just about politics, but the nature of U.S. democracy, AFP reports.
Speaking before a rapt Democratic convention in Philadelphia, Obama praised Clinton's caliber and readiness for the White House while painting her Republican rival as a know-nothing authoritarian.
The election, Obama said, was "not just a choice between parties or policies; the usual debates between left and right."
"This is a more fundamental choice," he said, according to AFP.
In the city where America's founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, Obama declared the November election a "fundamental choice" about what the country is and the very "meaning of our democracy."
Obama spearheaded a day-long effort by Democrats to depict Trump as unfit to be commander-in-chief, contrasting the political neophyte with his more experienced Democratic rival.
Punching at Trump's campaign slogan, he insisted "America is already great. America is already strong. And I promise you, our strength, our greatness, does not depend on Donald Trump."
"Our power doesn't come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order as long as we do things his way. We don't look to be ruled."
Voicing optimism about the future, Obama said "anyone who threatens our values — whether fascists or communists or jihadists or homegrown demagogues — will always fail in the end."
