Some Democrats were disappointed that Mr Sanders had not acknowledged Mrs Clinton’s “milestone”, as she described it, in becoming the first woman to be the presumptive presidential nominee of a major party. “I am fired up”.
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Obama, who aides say has been itching to hit the campaign trail, says in the video that, “I’m with her, I am fired up, and I can not wait to get out there to campaign for Hillary”.
Clinton and Obama will campaign together in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on June 15. It will be their first scheduled joint appearance. Earnest said Obama recorded his video Tuesday.
In Santa Monica, Sanders, who won the Montana primary and North Dakota caucuses on Tuesday, did not encourage his supporters to get behind Clinton.
“Honored to have you with me, @POTUS”.
“It was a healthy thing for the Democratic Party to have a contested primary”. I’ve seen her commitment to our values up close. “It’s just such a treat because over the years of knowing each other, we’ve gone from fierce competitors to true friends”.
Mr Trump, despite a string of victories this week that reaffirmed his place as the Republican nominee, is still working to convince wary Republicans that he is presidential material.
High-ranking Democrats have grown impatient for the race to formally end.
Despite Sanders’ vow to keep fighting all the way to the party convention in late July, Democratic leaders are hopeful Sanders and his passionate followers will join them in the fight against presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Trump tweeted in response Thursday afternoon: “Obama just endorsed Crooked Hillary”.
Clinton’s comeback: “Delete your account”.
Sanders said that he “will, of course, be competing in the DC Primary which will be held next Tuesday”.
Obama tapped Clinton as his first-term secretary of state – linking the two forever in history on decisions like the USA raid to kill Osama bin Laden and the military intervention in Libya.
The meeting came at Sanders’ request, according to the White House.
“I congratulated her on her strong campaign”, Sanders said.
An ongoing feud with Mr Trump gained steam on social media with a series of posts in which she labelled the celebrity businessman racist, sexist and xenophobic and said she was going to fight to make sure his “toxic stew of hatred and insecurity never reaches the White House”.
Sanders also thanked Obama and Vice President Biden for not putting their “thumb on the scales” during the Democratic primary, though offered no review of his hour-and-a-half-long meeting with Obama.
More pragmatic supporters are pressing for Sanders to leverage his newfound political clout.
Neither Mrs Clinton nor Republican Donald Trump had public events on Wednesday, both preparing for the next big hurdle between themselves and the White House – a five-month head-to-head race to November.
Obama has been trying to give Sanders the courtesy of exiting the race on his own terms.
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The White House has said Obama, who is very popular among Democrats, will play a unifying role on the campaign trail.
