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Obama Joins Hillary Clinton on Stump, Saying She ‘Has Been Tested’ Obama Joins Hillary Clinton on Stump, Saying She ‘Has Been Tested’
(about 5 hours later)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — President Obama on Tuesday delivered a full-throated stemwinder on behalf of Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid, making his debut on the campaign trail this year just hours after federal officials criticized Mrs. Clinton’s “careless” handling of emails but said no charges should be filed. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As Hillary Clinton braced for political fallout from her use of a private email server, President Obama delivered a stemwinder on her behalf on Tuesday, praising her “steady judgment” as his secretary of state and criticizing Donald J. Trump for his own lack of transparency.
The president and his first-term secretary of state sidestepped the email issue during their first joint campaign appearance at a convention center here. Sleeves rolled up, Mr. Obama whipped up the friendly crowd by heaping praise on Mrs. Clinton and taking some swipes at Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. Sleeves rolled up and declaring himself “fired up” on her behalf, Mr. Obama heaped admiration on Mrs. Clinton and assailed Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, saying American voters face a critical choice between “some imaginary past, or whether we are going to reach for the future.”
“I can tell you this, Hillary Clinton has been tested,” Mr. Obama said, interrupted repeatedly by the cheering crowd. “There has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office,” the president boomed. “I can tell you this, Hillary Clinton has been tested,” Mr. Obama said as he interrupted repeatedly by the cheering crowd. “There has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office,” the president boomed.
Mr. Obama said voters face a choice between “some imaginary past, or whether we are going to reach for the future.” And he said that Mrs. Clinton was a candidate who did not fear what the future has to offer. But the jubilant rally — Mr. Obama’s first campaign appearance with Mrs. Clinton — unfolded at an awkward moment, just hours after the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, accused Mrs. Clinton of being “extremely careless” in her email use as he announced the end of an investigation that has engulfed her candidacy and put the Obama administration on the defensive.
“She believes that it is ours to shape,” he said. “Hillary understands that we make our own destiny, as long as we’re together.” The dueling political events on Tuesday were as discordant as they were separate: The president and his first-term secretary of state sidestepped the email issue at their rally, where Mr. Obama clasped hands with his onetime rival and predicted victory in the fall, making no mention of Mr. Comey’s dramatic announcement in Washington faulting Mrs. Clinton even as he recommended against criminal charges.
Speaking before the president, Mrs. Clinton told the crowd of several thousand people that, with Mr. Obama’s help, she intended to defeat Mr. Trump. She described Mr. Obama as a “statesman” with “depth, heart and humility” and said that he had prevailed despite an array of obstructions in Washington. Without mentioning the email controversy, Mr. Obama pointed to the political attacks that have chipped away at Mrs. Clinton’s trust among voters. “Can I be blunt?” he said. “Hillary’s got her share of critics.” But, he added, “That’s what happens when you dedicate yourself to public service over a lifetime.”
And, she added, “He knows a thing or two about winning elections.” Mr. Obama delicately touched on Mrs. Clinton’s perceived weaknesses as a candidate even as he marveled at her tenacity in the nominating fight they waged against each other eight years ago. In an election year in which outsider candidates have railed against the establishment, Mr. Obama portrayed Mrs. Clinton’s decades-long experience as a plus.
Mrs. Clinton lauded Mr. Obama’s presidency and drew a sharp contrast with Mr. Trump, eliciting loud boos when she asked: “Can you imagine him, sitting in the Oval Office, the next time the world faces a crisis? Donald Trump is simply unqualified and temperamentally unfit.” “Sometimes we take somebody who has been in the trenches and fought the good fight and been so steady for granted,” he said, recognizing that voters’ yearning for the next new thing had helped his own 2008 campaign. “We don’t do that, by the way, for airline pilots.”
Mr. Obama remains wildly popular among Democrats and, in particular, the black voters who helped Mrs. Clinton defeat Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Mrs. Clinton won more than 77 percent of the vote among blacks through the May 10 contests, according to exit polls. At a time when her State Department tenure is being picked apart by political critics, he defended her turn as the nation’s top diplomat, noting how her popularity faded only once she returned to the political spotlight. “It’s funny how the filter changes a little bit,” he said. “The filter is a powerful thing.”
In a general election, Mr. Obama can assist Mrs. Clinton in states that have historically leaned Republican, like North Carolina, where an increasingly diverse population helped Mr. Obama capture the state’s 15 electoral votes in 2008. He lost the state to Mitt Romney in 2012. Mrs. Clinton, perched on a stool behind the president, grinned and gently nodded.
In a sign of the coming fight there, Mr. Trump has plans for his own rally later Tuesday in Raleigh to criticize Mr. Obama’s tenure and portray a Clinton presidency as four more years of the status quo. The swing-state rally in North Carolina was rescheduled after a previous campaign event in Wisconsin was hastily canceled after the Orlando shootings. But in some ways, the moment had been years in the making.
Senior Clinton campaign aides — including John D. Podesta, Jennifer Palmieri and Kristina Schake, all of whom worked in the Obama administration — have kept the White House abreast of Mrs. Clinton’s positioning and moves, especially when they might cause discomfort between the two Democrats. Eight years ago, after a brutal primary fight, Mrs. Clinton appeared arm in arm with Mr. Obama for the first time in Unity, N.H., where she declared, “Unity is not only a beautiful place, it’s a wonderful feeling, isn’t it?”
As she emerged as her party’s presumptive nominee, Mrs. Clinton has received additional help from a far-flung network of aides who helped Mr. Obama defeat her eight years ago and who are determined to help the president in his mission to beat Mr. Trump. Mr. Obama referred to that event at Tuesday’s rally in North Carolina, a rally that served as a kind of bookend to two remarkable careers that at times seemed destined to clash. “We went to Unity, N.H., just in case people missed the point,” Mr. Obama said. “I saw the grace and the energy with which she threw herself into my campaign.”
Mr. Obama’s campaign appearances on behalf of Mrs. Clinton are the most visible efforts to lend her the power of incumbency. Aides say the president will hit the trail repeatedly, especially in October. Mrs. Clinton spoke before the president, an unusual departure from how she appears at events with high-powered surrogates, and at times it felt like she was campaigning not for herself, but for Mr. Obama’s legacy, praising his “heart, depth and humility.”
The president is eager to campaign, in part for personal reasons: Mr. Trump’s embrace of the “birther” movement’s conspiracy theories about the president’s heritage was a stinging affront, and Mr. Obama has expressed deep distaste for his views. She repeatedly referred to their former rivalry, even praising Mr. Obama’s political deftness at defeating her. “He knows a thing or two about winning elections, take it from me,” she said.
But Mr. Obama is also eager to ensure a Democrat succeeds him as a means of safeguarding his policies on immigration, gay rights, civil justice reform, education, health care and the environment. The F.B.I.’s decision not to recommend criminal charges came days after an unplanned, brief meeting between former President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch at an airport in Phoenix. To avoid any appearance of political interference, Ms. Lynch said Friday that she would accept the recommendations of career prosecutors and the F.B.I. director on whether to bring charges against Mrs. Clinton.
The desire to see Mrs. Clinton succeed Mr. Obama goes beyond the president’s own activity. It runs deep in the Obama firmament, especially among many former aides to the president who fought bitterly to defeat her in 2008 and are now working on her behalf. On Saturday, Mrs. Clinton and her lawyers met with officials from the F.B.I. and the Justice Department to answer nearly four hours of questioning related to her email server.
David Plouffe, the architect of Mr. Obama’s victory over Mrs. Clinton that year, has offered quiet advice to her behind the scenes even as he devotes his time to his current job as a strategic adviser at Uber, the ride-sharing company based in San Francisco. Aides to both Democrats said Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton did not discuss the F.B.I. investigation on the flight to Charlotte. A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, Nick Merrill, added that Mr. Obama looked at photos of Mrs. Clinton’s grandchildren aboard Air Force One.
Mr. Plouffe, who is revered among the president’s former campaign workers, has also used his popular Twitter feed to denounce Mr. Trump and to rally Mr. Obama’s troops to Mrs. Clinton’s side. Serving as Mr. Obama’s secretary of state, Mrs. Clinton engendered good will with the White House, and the experience of accepting Mr. Obama’s offer to run the State Department became one of the most popular stories she relayed on the campaign trail, particularly when wooing black voters.
“When he says something like ‘Pennsylvania will never vote for Trump,’ a lot of people take comfort in that,” said Mitch Stewart, who worked with Mr. Plouffe on the 2008 campaign and directed the president’s battleground efforts in 2012. “His impact on the larger Obama world is soothing.” Mrs. Clinton also fired away at Mr. Trump, saying that Mr. Obama was “someone who has never forgotten where he came from — and Donald, if you’re out there tweeting, it’s Hawaii,” a reference to Mr. Trump’s calls in 2011 for the president to produce his birth certificate.
For several attendees, many of whom waited for hours in sweltering conditions to get into the rally, the chief draw was the chance to glimpse Mr. Obama as he sets off on something of a farewell tour.
The crowd was heavily African-American, flashing clothing and trinkets dedicated to the sitting president. Vendors sold tote bags and T-shirts emblazoned with images of Mr. Obama’s teenage daughters, and T-shirts promising to continue Mr. Obama’s historic 2008 victory by electing the first female president.
“It was on my bucket list,” Ivy Dunn, 69, said of seeing him.
Asked if she thought Mrs. Clinton could be as effective in office, Ms. Dunn paused. “I’m not going to say yes,” she said, “but she’ll be good.”
Mrs. Clinton will need to nurture Mr. Obama and his supporters, particularly after she strayed to the left of his policies during her nominating fight on issues like the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal and the Keystone XL Pipeline. A majority — 51 percent — of Americans approve of the president, according to a recent Gallup poll.
As Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton touched down at the Charlotte airport, and strode off Air Force One together in a sign of solidarity, a reporter asked John D. Podesta, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign chairman and a former White House chief of staff to Mr. Obama, whether the F.B.I. announcement overshadowed the rally.
He replied with a single word: “Hardly.”