Clinton and Obama hold first joint rally
CHARLOTTE --- President Barack Obama said at a rally here Tuesday that he's "ready to pass the baton" to Hillary Clinton.
"And I know Hillary Clinton is going to take it," he said, speaking to thousands of supporters gathered at the Charlotte Convention Center. It was the President's first campaign event with the presumptive Democratic nominee and a show of Democratic unity against Donald Trump. They walked on stage together, hand in hand, after traveling together from Washington, D.C. to Charlotte aboard Air Force One, and both spoke at a podium that had the presidential seal on the front.
"There has never been any man or woman more qualified," Obama said of Clinton, including himself in that group, "ever."
Clinton, who spoke to the crowd first while Obama -- wearing a shirt and tie but forgoing a jacket -- on a stool behind her, heaped praise on her former rival.
"I've also known him as the friend that I was honored to stand with," she said, "someone who has never forgotten where he came from and, Donald, if you're out there tweeting -- it's Hawaii."
Clinton described Obama as a "statesman" who leads not just the United States, "but the entire world."
"I saw him go toe-to-toe with the toughest foreign leaders and to give the order to go after Osama bin Laden," she said. "This, my friends, is a president who knows how to keep us safe and strong. Compare that to Donald Trump."
Obama took his own shots at Trump but, instead of using his name, referred to him only indirectly.
"I know the other guy talks about making America 'great again,'" Obama said. "America's really great."
He pointed to surveys, taken in other countries, which found that the United States is the "strongest" and the "best positioned."
"That's a fact," he said. "That's not like, just something I just made up and tweeted."
Obama described Clinton as the only choice for working Americans and their families.
"I saw how deeply she believes in the things she fights for," Obama said. "I saw how you can count on her, how she won't waver, how she won't back down and she will not quit, no matter how difficult the challenge and no matter how fierce the opposition."
The rally, which was rescheduled from its original date in light of the deadly shooting in Orlando, comes on the same day that FBI Director James Comey announced that the agency would not be recommending that Clinton face charges for mishandling classified information. But neither Clinton nor Obama made any mention of emails in Charlotte.
After their rally, the pair dropped by a barbecue restaurant and, before Obama boarded Air Force One, per the White House pool, Clinton stood with him for a few moments under a black umbrella, and gave him a brief hug.
CBS News' Jillian Hughes contributed to this report.