As President Obama made his campaign debut with Hillary Clinton in North Carolina, a state that is both a must-get for Republicans and a total wild card this cycle, he told the Charlotte crowd:
I'm ready to pass the baton, and I know that Hillary Clinton is going to take it.
If Elizabeth Warren gave Clinton street cred with the progressive left last week in Ohio, this week Obama made certain that his stalwart supporters—including black voters, among others—know that Clinton can be trusted to carry on his legacy. And in their first campaign appearance together, Clinton promised to do just that as she introduced the president.
“Most of all,” Clinton said, “we're going to build on the vision for America that President Obama has always championed: a vision for a future where we do great things together not as red states and blue states, but as the United States.”
Although Obama effected a certain ease at the mic that seems to elude Clinton on the trail, he used the contrast as an opportunity to give witness to how Clinton acts when the cameras aren't rolling.
“It wasn't just what happened in the limelight that made me grow more and more to admire and respect Hillary,” he said. “I saw how she treated everybody with respect, even the folks who aren't, quote-unquote, important. That's how you judge somebody—is how do they treat somebody when the cameras are off and they can't do anything for you. Do you still treat 'em right? Do you still treat 'em with respect? Do you still listen to 'em? Are you still fighting for 'em?”
North Carolina's 15 electoral votes along with its races for governor and U.S. senator are totally up for grabs this election cycle, partly because of Donald Trump's pathetic campaign infrastructure and partly because of the GOP-led legislature's radical turn to the right on voting rights, abortion access, and LGBT equality.
So even as Obama gave Clinton a rousing endorsement, the two Democratic standard-bearers served up several delicious jabs at the presumptive GOP nominee. Here’s a taste.
1. Clinton on Trump’s birtherism:
[President Obama] has never forgotten where he came from. And, Donald, if you're out there tweeting, it's Hawaii.
2. Obama on Trump’s main skill set: tweeting
The truth is, nobody fully understands the challenges of the job of president until you've actually sat at the desk. Nobody actually knows the job until you’re sitting behind a desk. [Cheers and applause] Everybody can tweet, but nobody actually knows what it takes to do the job until you’ve sat behind the desk. I mean, Sasha tweets—but she doesn't think that she thereby should be sitting behind the desk.
3. Obama on Trump’s incoherent economic plan
If you're voting for the other team, it's not because of the economy—it's not because of the economy—you've gotta be clear about that. I mean, even, even the Republicans on the other side don't really know what the guy's talking about. They really don't. They really don't. You ask 'em, they are all like, I don't know.
4. Obama on the GOP’s pledge to lower gas prices
Remember when the other team was promising they were going to get gas prices down in like 10 years? We did it. We did it.
5. Obama on his facts vs. Trump’s fiction
Let me just say, I know the other guy talks about making America great again. America is really great. And just the other day somebody was writing about, when you look at surveys in the world, turns out that when Obama came into office the world didn't think we were that great. But now they think we're the greatest. [Cheers and applause] They think we're the strongest, they think we're in the best position. We were in a hole before I came into office, but right now the rest of the world thinks we are pretty darn great. And by the way, you can look that up. That's a fact. That's not like just something I just made up and tweeted. So there's surveys done. They poll people so you actually know what people think.
Here’s the clip of Obama endorsing Clinton:
