Obama ‘delighted’ with Clinton as Democrats try to unite party

WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama formally endorsed Hillary Clinton’s bid for the White House on Thursday, urging Democrats to unite behind her after a protracted battle with Bernie Sanders for the party nomination.

SEE ALSO: Vigilante group targeted religious group’s houses of worship

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts also endorsed Clinton on Thursday, saying on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is “a real threat to the country.”

Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, said it “means the world” to her that Obama supported her in a bruising campaign for the Nov. 8 election.

See Hillary Clinton through the years:

Clinton also said she had “highest regard” for Warren, a harsh critic of Wall Street, and was “truly pleased with her good ideas and her support.”

Vice President Joe Biden also got involved in the election campaign on Thursday. “Whoever the next president is, and God willing, I think it will be Secretary Clinton,” Biden said in a speech to the American Constitution Society in Washington.

Obama’s support increases pressure on Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, to withdraw from the race and throw his support behind Clinton so the party can focus on defeating Trump.

“It is absolutely a pleasure and an honor that President Obama and I have gone from bitter competitors to true friends over the years,” Clinton said in an interview with Reuters.

After an unexpectedly tough fight against Sanders’ challenger from the left, former first lady Clinton made history when she reached the number of delegates needed to win the party’s nomination this week. This made her the first woman to lead a major US party as a candidate for the White House.

Obama, enjoying rising approval ratings as he nears the end of his eight-year term, will join Clinton on the campaign trail in Wisconsin next week.

The two were opponents in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, which Obama won, but they buried their rivalry and she served as his secretary of state for four years. Clinton is the 2016 candidate the White House believes will best protect Obama’s legacy.

“I don’t believe there has ever been anyone more qualified to hold this office,” Obama said of Clinton in a video. “I agree with her. I’m thrilled and can’t wait to get out there and campaign for Hillary.”

Trump criticized the support on Twitter: “He wants four more years of Obama – but no one else wants it!”

Clinton’s campaign tweeted a bold response: “Delete your account.”

Sanders, who galvanized young voters with his calls for greater social equality and measures to rein in Wall Street, was reluctant to concede the race despite top Democrats’ concerns that ongoing party divisions could hamper Clinton’s efforts to beat Trump.

Towards the exit

Obama and other senior Democrats are seeking a delicate balance between mobilizing the party behind Clinton while not alienating Sanders and his supporters.

In an apparent attempt to gently persuade Sanders to abandon his campaign, Obama met with the democratic socialist at the White House for about an hour and laughed heartily as they entered the Oval Office.

Although Sanders told reporters afterward that he still planned to take part in the final nominating contest in Washington, D.C. next Tuesday, he said he would work with Clinton to defeat Trump.

Sanders was then greeted on Capitol Hill by Senator Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the Senate. Reid said the Vermont lawmaker is in “good spirits” with his Democratic colleagues. He suggested that Sanders was close to acknowledging Clinton’s defeat.

“I haven’t heard a single word about him trying to change the fact that she’s the nominee. I think he accepted that,” Reid told reporters.

In the endorsement video, Obama recalled the party unity that followed his long primary campaign against Clinton in 2008.

“Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders may have been rivals in this primary, but they are both patriots who love this country and they share the vision of an America we all believe in,” Obama said.

Warren told MSNBC she supported Clinton because “a fighter at the top is exactly what this country needs.”

SEE ALSO: Study shows long-term health effects of marijuana use

Warren’s populist credibility will strengthen Clinton’s ability to woo Sanders voters as she prepares to take on Trump. Warren was the only Democratic U.S. senator who did not support Clinton during the primary.

Clinton told Reuters that she and Warren had similar views on issues such as economic policy and protecting the Dodd-Frank financial reform law of 2010 and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Warren helped create.

Trump said in an interview with Reuters last month that he would seek to repeal the Dodd-Frank law.

In the interview with Reuters, Clinton said her overall economic package, including plans to rein in Wall Street and tax cuts for the middle class, would come in the first 100 days of her presidency if she defeats Trump.

Clinton previously said a plan to create jobs by investing in transportation and other infrastructure spending, as well as immigration reform, would be among the first priorities.

“One of the things President Obama said yesterday was that he believed his job was to remind the American people what a really serious job this is, the difficult decisions, the hard decisions, the high risks involved the election of a president and commander in chief,” Clinton said.

“And I know how important it is to get off to a really good start in the White House,” she said.

Trump, a wealthy real estate developer who became the party’s presumptive nominee last month after defeating a large group of rivals, is well behind Clinton’s campaign in fundraising and political infrastructure.

On Thursday, its top donors held their first official meeting in New York. Trump also met with industry leaders in New York at an event organized by oil billionaire Harold Hamm.