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President Obama joined Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail for the first time. He stated that "there has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office than Hillary Clinton."
President Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrive at a campaign stop in Charlotte on July 5, 2016.(Photo: Susan Walsh, AP)
President Obama was let loose on the 2016 campaign trail for the first time Tuesday, giving Hillary Clinton the detailed and enthusiastic<span style="color: Red;">*</span>character testimonial her campaign hopes will unite the Democratic Party before its convention in Philadelphia later this month.
At a Charlotte rally,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Obama spent a significant amount of time in his first joint campaign appearance this year with Clinton vouching for her personal attributes, citing her work on child health and poverty issues<span style="color: Red;">*</span>as a young lawyer<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and her work on his behalf after losing a protracted 2008 primary. He also noted her popularity among Democrats and Republicans when she served in the U.S. Senate and as secretary of State.
“I saw how she treated everybody with respect, even the folks where weren’t, quote unquote, important,” he told supporters.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“That’s how you judge someone is, how do they treat somebody when the cameras are off,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and they can’t do anything for you,” said Obama, before outlining the stakes in the 2016 election while stressing Clinton’s economic plan.
The joint campaign<span style="color: Red;">*</span>appearance of the two former rivals came not long after the FBI announced a decision on an issue<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that has been a cloud over her campaign for more than a year: her use of a private email server while serving as Obama's secretary of State. FBI Director James Comey announced Tuesday morning that, while Clinton and her staff had been "extremely careless" in their handling of classified information, his recommendation was that Clinton should not face criminal charges.
Neither Obama<span style="color: Red;">*</span>nor Clinton, who spoke before the president, mentioned the announcement by the FBI. However, the Clinton campaign issued a statement earlier in the day:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“We are pleased that the career officials handling this case have determined that no further action by the Department is appropriate,” said spokesman Brian Fallon.
Clinton<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is hoping the president will energize critical Democratic Party demographic groups she’s struggled to win over, namely young voters who powered his wins in 2008 and 2012. In this year's Democratic contest, young voters were overwhelmingly behind Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has yet to officially endorse Clinton and remains critical of her on some issues, such as Wall Street regulation.
The Clinton campaign chose North Carolina —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>one of the few battleground states<span style="color: Red;">*</span>where presumptive Republican nominee Donald<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Trump has a tiny polling advantage over Clinton — for Tuesday's rally<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in an attempt to show she’s on the offense early in the general election.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>In 2008, Obama was the first Democrat to win the state since 1976, though he lost to Republican Mitt Romney in 2012. The state<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is considered a must-win for any Republican candidate.
Clinton’s core challenge in the general election against Trump is voter perceptions of her trustworthiness, according to polls, a problem that’s been amplified by the FBI’s investigation and one on which Trump is capitalizing by calling her “crooked.”
The announcement by the FBI earlier Tuesday may have fed the crowd's enthusiasm. News broke about the time 83-year-old Manache Ragsdale of Charlotte started her two-hour wait in line to get into the hall on a day when temperatures topped 90 degrees before lunch.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“I was elated, very happy and relieved,” Ragsdale said.
Clinton herself has acknowledged she has work to do on the trust issue.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“Can I be blunt?” said Obama near the end of his speech. “The fact is, Hillary is steady and she is true,” he said. “We don’t care about the slings and arrows that are thrown at us because we know that’s how real change and real progress happens,” he said. He added: “We weren’t born with a silver spoon,” one of many veiled digs at Trump.
Seemingly relishing his first appearance on the 2016 campaign trail,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Obama contrasted Clinton’s experience as a senator and on foreign policy with Trump throughout the speech, at one point even comparing Trump’s Twitter habits to that of his 15-year-old daughter. “Sasha tweets but she doesn’t think that she thereby should be sitting down at the desk,” he said, referring to the Oval Office. “Hillary Clinton has been tested, she has seen up close what’s involved in making those decisions.”
The president was particularly focused on Clinton’s economic message. “If your concern is who’s going to look out for working families, if you’re voting your pocket book, if you’re asking who’s actually going to stand up for the guy on the construction site,” said Obama, “If that’s your concern, this isn’t even a choice because the other side has nothing to offer you.”
USA TODAY
'Extremely careless,' but FBI advises no charges for Clinton's emails
Obama released a video as the two jetted south on Air Force One for the event that focused on Clinton's character.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“Not only did she impress me during the campaign, but she frankly really impressed me in terms of how she handled the loss of that primary. She was a trooper,” he said of their 2008 Democratic presidential race, which Obama won narrowly.
Obama endorsed Clinton on June 9, days after she locked up the delegates needed to secure the Democratic presidential nomination.
USA TODAY
Clinton campaign 'pleased' with FBI decision on emails
USA TODAY
White House: Obama won't discuss e-mails while campaigning for Clinton
Clinton and Obama have been trying to campaign together since an initial joint appearance in Wisconsin was cancelled after the Orlando shootings. Obama's approval rating has inched to 50% or above in recent polls, something Democrats hope will help Clinton and other party officials running down the ballot.
Clinton's favorable rating was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>42%<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in a recent USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>while Trump was at 31%.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Clinton gave a detailed defense of Obama's record in her remarks, saying he saved the nation from a second Great Depression.
Some people in the crowd who had voted for Obama in the 2008 primary said afterward the president’s speech made it that much easier to back Clinton in 2016.
“It answered a lot of questions about Hillary,” said Linda Edwards, a 67-year-old retiree from Charlotte. “The strongest endorsement you can possibly get is from the president. … He won me over.”
“It just strengthened my resolve that she is the person we need in the future,” said Jason Harwood, an elementary music school teacher from the small central North Carolina town of Rockwell who also backed Obama eight years ago.
During her remarks, Clinton<span style="color: Red;">*</span>took several swipes at Trump, who was a leading advocate of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>conspiracy theories that Obama is not an American-born citizen.
USA TODAY
USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll: Clinton's lead over Trump narrows to 5 points
Obama is "someone who has never forgotten where he came from and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Donald, if you are out there tweeting, it’s Hawaii," she said.
Contributing: Mark Barrett, The (Asheville, N.C.) Citizen-Times, reporting from Charlotte
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