After taking an “extremely careless” but “not criminal” Hillary Clinton on board Air Force 1, President Obama makes his campaign trail debut with the presumptive Democratic Candidate, with – as CNN puts it – his own legacy at stake as he works to elect a Democratic successor.
Appearing onstage with Clinton in Charlotte after lending her a ride from Washington on Air Force One, Obama hopes to confer his relative popularity on a candidate still struggling to gain voters’ trust. He’ll tout the four years she served as his top diplomat as “evidence of tough-nosed grit, and acknowledge that he himself is a Clinton convert after their nasty 2008 primary campaign.”
Needless to say, Hillary will be extremely relieved now that the overhang of an FBI charge is gone, just as she knew long ago. Still, as CNN adds, though Comey declared that he would not recommend charges against Clinton, the long-awaited announcement was a striking rebuke of the Democratic Party’s presumptive White House nominee, coming at a crucial moment in the election as she seeks to shed the perception among voters that she is untrustworthy and dishonest.
“Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information,” Comey said, “there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.
It’s unclear whether or how the news will affect Tuesday’s event. Clinton’s campaign aides expect Obama to tell the story of his rival-to-friend relationship with Clinton on Tuesday in North Carolina, offering Americans a validating voice on the former secretary of state’s character, fitness and qualifications.
We expect Hillary to explain “what difference does it make” for the FBI to find her “above the law” and for Obama to be there propping her up alongthe way.
via http://ift.tt/29hbLMv Tyler Durden