It was the biggest event of the week for both President Obama and candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton — his endorsement of her bid to succeed him. Our grader Jed Babbin said it was cooked in advance of Obama’s meeting with her challenger, Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Jed Babbin
It started as a slow week for President Obama. After last week’s dismal jobs report, those hoping for relief on the economic front were disappointed. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the president’s 2017 budget would reduce jobs and lower economic output mostly by raising marginal tax rates on labor income.
Obama issued his second veto threat of the 2017 Defense Authorization bill, citing a host of objections such as the continuing congressional bar to moving terrorist inmates of Guantanamo Bay to prisons in the United States. That’s a battle he’s lost since 2009 and will continue to lose.
The big moment came on Thursday when Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton shortly after a meeting with Sen. Bernie Sanders. Obama said of Clinton, “I don’t think there’s ever been someone so qualified to hold this office.” The timing of the endorsement seemed a slam against Sanders supporters, especially when Twitter sleuths discovered that Obama had filmed the video endorsement two days before it was released. Obama can now get back to doing what he does best: campaigning. When he does, he may help Donald Trump who hasn’t apparently realized that he’s running against Obama and his record as much as he’s running against Hillary. Now the real fun begins.
Grade C-
Examiner contributor Jed Babbin is a former deputy undersecretary of defense in administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him @jedbabbin
Co-grader John Zogby, the senior analyst for Zogby Analytics, was traveling this week.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
