Obama formally endorses Hillary Clinton

U.S. President Barack Obama has formally endorsed Hillary Clinton’s bid for the White House on Thursday, praising his former secretary of state’s experience and grit, and urging Democrats to unite behind her in the fight against Republicans in the fall.

“Look, I know how hard this job can be. That’s why I know Hillary will be so good at it,” Obama said in a web video circulated by the Clinton campaign. “I have seen her judgment. I have seen her toughness.”

Obama called for unity among Democrats and vowed to be an active force on the campaign trail.

As it circulated the Obama video, the Clinton campaign announced their first joint appearance on the campaign trail will be Wednesday in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The campaign said Obama and Clinton will discuss building on the progress made during his presidency “and their vision for an America that is stronger together.”

Obama’s testimonial came as the Democratic establishment piled pressure on Clinton’s primary rival, Bernie Sanders, to step aside so Democrats could focus on defeating presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Sanders emerged from a meeting with Obama earlier Thursday and inched closer in that direction. Although he stopped short of endorsing Clinton, the Vermont senator told reporters he planned to press for his agenda at the party’s July convention and would work with Clinton to defeat Trump.

“Needless to say, I am going to do everything in my power and I will work as hard as I can to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president of the United States,” he said.

Sanders, standing in the White House driveway with his wife, Jane, at his side, said he would compete in the Washington, D.C., primary on Tuesday, the party’s final contest, but noted his interest was largely in pushing for statehood.

Sanders’ remarks came after a longer-than-expected Oval Office sit-down with Obama, part of Democratic leaders intensifying effort to unite behind Clinton as the nominee of the party.

Clinton declared victory over Sanders on Tuesday, having captured the number of delegates needed to become the first female nominee from a major party.

Obama has been trying to give Sanders the courtesy of exiting the race on his own terms.

“It was a healthy thing for the Democratic Party to have a contested primary. I thought that Bernie Sanders brought enormous energy and new ideas,” Obama said Wednesday during a taped appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” “And he pushed the party and challenged them. I thought it made Hillary a better candidate.”

Obama had planned to use Thursday’s meeting, which the White House emphasized was requested by Sanders, to discuss how to build on the enthusiasm he has brought to the primary, the White House said. That’s a diplomatic way of saying Obama wanted to know what Sanders wants.

Obama’s aides have said he is itching to get off the sidelines and take on Trump. The key question is whether voters who helped elect him twice will follow his lead now that he is not on the ballot. Democrats have yet to see that powerful coalition of minorities, young people and women reliably show up for candidates not named Obama.

It is going to be hard to get African American turnout as high as Obama got it, and to get youth turnout as high as Obama got it,” said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster. “We have to work really hard.”

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press