President Obama Campaigns with Clinton in Charlotte
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have also known him as the friend that I was honored to stand with in the good times and the hard times, someone who has never forgotten where he came from.</s>CLINTON: And, Donald, if you're out there tweeting, it is Hawaii.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe in Hillary Clinton.</s>OBAMA: And I want you to help elect her to be the next president of the United States of America! That's what I want.</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Now, significantly, Jim, there was no mention today of the e-mail controversy, of the decision by the FBI, the recommendation to not file criminal charges. But President Obama did say clearly, "I trust her judgment." He is making an implicit case here that she was in fact a good secretary of state. But at some point, Hillary Clinton will have to acknowledge the developments here over the last 24 hours or so. Certainly, the Republicans are seizing on them. But that was a moment for here today. Jim, basically, this going to be is a base election. We have know that from the beginning, but President Obama trying to fire up his coalition, why North Carolina is absolutely critical. He won the state, of course, in 2008. It was a blue state. Four years later, it became a red state, with Mitt Romney narrowly winning. They hope to turn it into a blue state once again. That's why we're going to see both of them here in North Carolina a lot more. And we're going to see President Obama on the campaign trail more than we have seen any sitting president in years. Ronald Reagan would be the only one who slightly compares, but he only campaigned occasionally for George H.W. Bush back in 1988 -- Jim.</s>JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Jeff, perhaps just in time in the last few months we have seen President Obama's approval ratings tick back up above 50 percent. How important is that as the president will be out on the campaign trail more often in the coming weeks?</s>ZELENY: Jim, that is absolutely critical. This is what the Clinton campaign has been waiting for, hoping for. And that really is a sign of Democrats and even independents, people who voted for President Obama, coming home here. Although he is not on the ballot in this election, his policies and his presidency essentially is. So, this higher approval rating is essentially a lot of voters are saying we're actually OK with what is going on now compared to the choices we have. So his approval rating will definitely allow him to make the case for Hillary Clinton, in some cases better than her. But, Jim, it's not only going to be Barack Obama. Look for Michelle Obama, who is extraordinarily popular here and across the country, to also be campaigning here. So the Obamas will be fully on board in this election. His legacy depends upon it, and Donald Trump defeating him is so personal to him as well. Jim, that is why we saw some of those jabs there, but more substantive than most endorsements we see -- Jim.</s>SCIUTTO: Jeff Zeleny right in the middle of it there as the president, you can see there, leaving an enthusiastic crowd following that endorsement. I want to bring our panel back now. We have Bill Kristol. We have Patti Solis Doyle. We have Joe Biden in New York. Patti, if I could go to you first, certainly a fired-up, pumped-up President Obama there.</s>PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.</s>SCIUTTO: How powerful of a voice is he? You and I have spoken about your own concerns about the Clinton campaign, doubts about whether Democrats will get excited about her. How important is his voice in winning those Democrats over, in effect, to back her enthusiastically?</s>SOLIS DOYLE: Extremely important. I think more than bringing in Democrats, he is there today speaking as the current president of the United States, speaking -- he knows what the job is like. And he said, I trust her. She is the most qualified person ever, man or woman, ever to run. So, he brings a lot of credibility to her. And he said it in a very personal way. I like her, I know her, I trust her, vote for her, I'm voting for her. I think it is really important. And just in contrast to Trump, we had Elizabeth Warren come out and campaign for her. We have President Obama today. We're going to have Vice President Biden on Friday. This party is coming together. The Democratic Party is coming together. And right now Donald Trump is having a hard time getting people to speak at the convention, much less endorse him, the way Obama endorsed Hillary.</s>SCIUTTO: Bill, so obviously you want to get the base fired up and ready to go, as the president said there. But there were interesting comments there going after, it seemed, more than Democrats. The president said at one point you have a very clear choice to make. And he said, this is not a Democrat or Republican choice, it's a choice between those who want to cling to some imaginary past, clearly indicting the Trump view of the world, perhaps to win over independents, even some Republicans?</s>BILL KRISTOL, EDITOR, "THE WEEKLY STANDARD": I thought -- President Obama is a good politician and he gave a good speech. But I actually thought it was not effective at winning over independents. And here is why. Precisely when he kept saying there is no choice, well, if you're an independent, if you're an undecided voter, by definition, you kind of think, gee, it is a tough choice. Right? That's why you're undecided. And the polls show quite a lot of undecided voters. For all the talk about how terrible Donald Trump's campaign has been -- and I'm not a fan of Donald Trump -- he's only behind by five points nationally. He's probably ahead by a point or two in North Carolina. And, again, President Obama framed it -- it is a referendum on him. America is really great, he said. Things are going in the right direction. But two-thirds of the electorate think things are going in the wrong direction. If I were in the Clinton campaign, I would be a little worried about suddenly I'm the candidate of more of the same. I'm the candidate of the status quo. This is a change election, I think. The public is in a mood for change. I think they were foolish to go for Trump as the vehicle for change on the Republican side if they have, but nonetheless the public is in the mood for change. And I think if you're Donald Trump watching this, you think fine, fine, let's have a referendum on what President Obama just said. Things are fine in this country is what Obama really said, we're going in the right direction. Let's have a referendum on that.</s>SCIUTTO: Joe Borelli, I want to ask you -- because the president there took some very direct swipes at Donald Trump as, in effect, the rescuer of the middle class. He says if your concern is working people. He went on to say if you're voting for the other team, it's not even about the economy. Seemed that that was a message there, kind of an accusation that there is a racist undertone to that support. I wonder what your response is to the president's argument.</s>JOSEPH BORELLI, CO-CHAIR, DONALD TRUMP NEW YORK CAMPAIGN: I'm not going to speak about there being a racist undertone to what Obama says. But for the first time ever, I think I might be agree with what Mr. Kristol has to say. Two-thirds of the American public believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction. This might be effective in rallying some Democrats, but really independents are who is at stake. And we see Donald Trump winning in those independents. And today you also have like a case of two Hillarys. You have Barack Obama coming out there and saying Hillary Clinton is uniquely qualified to be president a few hours after you had the FBI director says she is extremely careless. If you have Obama as the figurehead in your campaign, yes, maybe you get to have the great campaigner in chief out there, but you also have to own his record, and his record is not all roses, Obamacare, the VA administration. Also, one thing we also didn't here was anything that Hillary Clinton was in charge of during his administration, because the Obama administration's foreign policy has been a disaster. She was at the head of that agency.</s>SCIUTTO: Patti, chance to respond?</s>SOLIS DOYLE: Well, look, I think the news out of today was that there were no criminal charges against Hillary Clinton, and that that is the big takeaway. I also think that I agree with Bill. Campaigns are about choices. And this campaign is about a choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's vision and plan for America moving forward and Donald Trump's plans or lack thereof. And I think when voters are faced -- independent voters are faced with this choice, they are going to choose Hillary Clinton.</s>SCIUTTO: Bill, looking with Obama out there, Republicans must understand that this can be a asset, at least for portions of the country. When you see that speech there, are you concerned for the Republican candidate?</s>KRISTOL: I'm not a big fan of the Republican candidate.</s>SCIUTTO: Understood. I'm aware of that. But let's separate that for a moment.</s>KRISTOL: I do basically think Donald Trump is the only Republican Hillary Clinton could beat. And Hillary Clinton is probably the only Democrat who Donald Trump has a chance of beating. And I do think -- and I'm not a fan of Trump -- that Trump has a chance. People are just underestimating him. He is only five points down. Barack Obama's approval has ticked up to 52 percent. What does that mean? Three percent of those who say they approve of Obama but think the country is going in the wrong direction could still decide to vote for Donald Trump. So if I were the Clinton campaign, the played this card well today. They were lucky in the timing. The speech will help take the edge off what the FBI director, Jim Comey, said. But I still would be worried that here I am with the country thinking that we're -- two-thirds of the country thinking we're on the wrong track, and the president of the United States just said I'm going to hand the baton off to Hillary Clinton. Do they want someone to just keep running the same race?</s>SCIUTTO: That's the key question. Bill Kristol, Patti Solis Doyle, Joe Borelli, thanks very much. No reasonable prosecutor would bring charges against Hillary Clinton, the FBI director saying those words that the entire Democratic Party, you might say, had been waiting for, for months, but not before reading out a damning list of ways that the secretary could have and should have known between. Our other top story, we will be with that right after this break.