Obama backs Clinton, gives nudge to Sanders

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Testifying to Hillary Clinton’s grit and experience, President Barack Obama endorsed his former secretary of state’s bid to succeed him Thursday and urged Democrats to line up behind her. It was all part of a carefully orchestrated pressure campaign aimed at easing Clinton rival Bernie Sanders toward the exit and turning fully to the fight against Republican Donald Trump.

Obama’s long-expected endorsement, delivered via an online video, included a forceful call for unity and for “embracing” Sanders’ economic message, which has fired up much of the liberal wing of his party. Obama sought to reassure Democrats that Clinton shares their values and is ready for the job.

“Look, I know how hard this job can be. That’s why I know Hillary will be so good at it,” Obama said. “I have seen her judgment. I have seen her toughness. I’ve seen her commitment to our values.”

Obama’s testimonial came less than an hour after the president met privately with Sanders at the White House to discuss the future of the senator’s “political revolution” – one that will not include him taking up residence at the White House. Sanders emerged from the meeting subdued and indicated he had gotten the message.

Although he stopped short of endorsing Clinton, the Vermont senator told reporters he planned to press for his “issues” – rather than victory – at the party’s July convention and would meet with Clinton “in the near future” to discuss ways to defeat Trump.

At an evening campaign rally at Washington’s RFK Stadium, Sanders made no mention of Clinton, of trying to win over the party insiders known as superdelegates or of pressing his case at next month’s Democratic National Convention.

He barely mentioned next Tuesday’s primary election in the city, the last on the Democratic primary calendar.

In another sign of Democratic unification, Sen. Elizabeth Warren also endorsed Clinton. The Massachusetts senator had been the only holdout among the Senate’s Democratic women, and her endorsement sends a signal to Sanders’ progressive supporters that it’s time to unite around the party’s presumptive nominee.

“I am ready to get in this fight and work my heart out for Hillary Clinton to become the next president of the United States and to make sure that Donald Trump never gets anyplace close to the White House,” Warren said on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show.”