Obama: Hillary Is ‘Whip Smart’

President Barack Obama praised Hillary Clinton last night — but was careful not to endorse her as Sen. Bernie Sanders has yet to drop out of the Democratic race.

“I think she is whip smart. She is tough. And she deeply cares about working people and putting kids through school and making sure we’re growing our economy,” Obama said.

Obama made his remarks during an interview with the Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon. He called the contentious primary “healthy” for the Democratic party, and praised Bernie Sanders for bringing an “enormous energy” and “new ideas” to the party.

“I thought it made Hillary a better candidate,” he said frankly.

Obama is meeting Sanders later today at the White House to discuss the future of his campaign. He recalled his own contentious primary against Clinton, admitting that things “get a little ouchy” during a tough race.

But he didn’t seem to be in a hurry to push Sanders out of the equation quickly, giving him weeks not days to sort it out.

“My hope is, is that over the next couple of weeks, we’re able to pull things together,” Obama said.

The president signaled that he would play a serious role in the campaign, reminding the country about how serious his job actually was.

“The main role I’m gonna be playing in this process is– to remind the American people that this is a serious job. You know, this is not reality TV,” he said.