Obama hypes Clinton, jabs at Trump in pumped-up campaign speech
President Barack Obama looked like a candidate again as he took the stage in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Tuesday for his first campaign event alongside presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
He was the now-experienced hype man, the guy who had done the job and was there to tell you that Clinton could, too. And as he took the microphone from the candidate, Obama showed just how much an asset he could be to Clinton's campaign. (He takes the podium at the 1:27:30 mark in the video above.)
"Everybody can tweet, but nobody actually knows what it actually takes to do the job until you've sat behind the desk," Obama said, with a not-so-subtle jab at Trump and his frequent Twitter rants. "I mean, Sasha tweets. But she doesn't think she should ... be sitting behind the desk."
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"There has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office than Hillary Clinton. Ever," POTUS continued.
The president also touted his own record, pulling a page out of Drake's "started from the bottom" playbook.
"When I came to office things were not in very good shape, as you recall," Obama said, chuckling with the crowd. He mentioned that private sector jobs have now grown for 75 straight months, and painted Clinton as the candidate best poised to continue economic growth.
"She knows that our economy works best not when it only benefits the few at the top, but when everybody's got a fair shot at success," Obama said.
The president also said that "policies Hillary mentioned would help working families feel more secure in today's economy," and used some of these talking points to launch jabs at presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, though Obama didn't refer to Trump by name.
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"I don't know how you vote for the guy who's against minimum wage, against unions ..." he said. "Even the Republicans on the other side don't know what the guy's talking about."
The president then wrapped up by lightly chastising the country for always chasing after things that are shiny and new. Obama said he benefited from that culture, that he was the new guy to Clinton's old hat when they battled in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. But now, he said, it was time for experience to prevail over a certain other candidate who has never been a politician.
"The fact is, Hillary is steady," Obama said.
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Clinton's detractors, though, have significant ammunition to disagree with that sentiment after FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday announced that Clinton and her staffers were "extremely careless" in their handling of emails that contained classified information while Clinton was secretary of state.
Comey did not recommend charges against Clinton or anyone else, but the charge that she was careless is not likely to go away.
Neither Clinton nor Obama mentioned Comey's announcement in their remarks on Tuesday. Trump, who is set to appear in North Carolina later in the day, may be a different story.
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Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
