President Barack Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton for president today, in a video posted to the Clinton campaign’s Facebook and YouTube accounts, instantly shared far and wide.
“I don’t think there’s ever been someone so qualified to hold this office,” Obama says in the video.
He congratulates her on “making history,” and describes Clinton as the most qualified candidate in the 2016 presidential race. He asks Democrats to come together to elect her, after combative party primary with Democratic contender Bernie Sanders.
“I have seen her judgment, I’ve seen her toughness, I’ve seen her commitment to our values up close,” the president said.
“She’s got the courage, the compassion, and the heart to get the job done,” he says in the video. “I’m with her, I am fired up, and I cannot wait to get out there to campaign for Hillary.”
From the New York Times:
Mr. Obama is impatient to begin playing an active role in the race to succeed him. White House officials had been discussing an endorsement with Mrs. Clinton’s camp for days, but they kept the timing of the announcement under wraps, in part as a gesture of respect for Senator Bernie Sanders and his highly motivated coalition of supporters. The president met with Mr. Sanders on Thursday morning.
Mr. Obama told Mr. Sanders in a phone call on Sunday that he would be endorsing Mrs. Clinton in the coming days, according to people familiar with the conversation, and discussed the announcement with Mrs. Clinton on Tuesday, the day she clinched the nomination.
Honored to have you with me, @POTUS. I'm fired up and ready to go! -H
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 9, 2016