Bernie Sanders Finally Endorses Hillary Clinton, “One of the Most Intelligent People” He Has Ever Met

Today, in “Thank god because I hate when Mom and Dad fight”: After a prolonged period of avoiding the word “endorse,” when discussing presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders finally publicly endorsed her today, in a delightful show of Democratic Party spirit in New Hampshire. You can watch the whole thing in the post below, but here are the highlights of the endorsement itself.

“Secretary Clinton goes into the convention with 389 more pledged delegates… and a lot more superdelegates,” said Sanders in his remarks. “Secretary Clinton has won the Democratic nominating process, and I congratulate her for that. She will be the Democratic nominee for president and I intend to do everything I can to make certain she will be the next president of the United States.”

While we’ve seen Clinton’s talking points clearly influenced by Sanders’ rhetoric over the past several months, Sanders adopted some of her “stronger together” messaging today, adding, “This campaign is about the needs of the American people and addressing the very serious crises that we face, and there is no doubt in my mind that as we head into November, Hillary Clinton is far and away the best candidate to do that,” a comment sure to anger Dr. Jill Stein.

This was not at all the exuberant, accidental matching outfits, high-energy tag-team sticking it to Trump we saw from Elizabeth Warren’s first appearance on the Clinton campaign trail. But following such a contentious primary, it also couldn’t have been. Still, it was very clearly a show of party unity, right down to the lineup of additional speakers, which represented both Clinton and Sanders supporters: New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan and US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who both back Clinton, and Sanders supporters Bill McKibben, environmental author and activist, and Jim Dean, who leads Democracy for America, which had previously endorsed the senator.

Sanders did exactly what he needed to do, praising Clinton for “[breaking] precedent in terms of the role that a first lady was supposed to play” through her early attempt at health care reform, her advocacy for children as a senator, and then said, in full endearing Grandpa Bernie mode, “And I know her and all of you know her as one of the most intelligent people that we have ever met.”

Sanders also did exactly what I expected him to do: He brought up his “rigged economy” messaging, and repeatedly used the phrase “Hillary Clinton understands” to precede a number of progressive policy goals, a choice of words that accomplish the dual purpose of sounding complimentary, but also imposing an expectation that Clinton deliver on her campaign promises.

Clinton seemed prepared for this, because if you know anything about Hillary Clinton, you know she’s a wonk who loves nothing more than making detailed plans (seriously, if you’re like OMG y do u like woar criminal Hillary, well, that’s why), and she shared some of the specifics of those plans, including a nerdy little foray into reforming our tax code (*heart eyes emoji*). Clinton has also been addressing racial inequality on the campaign trail, and today, following a week with police shootings of men of color making awful headlines, Clinton called to “develop national guidelines on the use of force by police officers,” as well as for “better training on implicit bias.”

Of Sanders, she said many perfectly nice things, but this stuck out to me: “[Sanders’] reputation for passionate advocacy hasn’t always made him the most popular person in Washington, but you know what? That’s generally a sign you’re doing something right.”

Now, some might read that as a poorly veiled critique of the senator, but given that it’s coming from someone who actually knows intimately what it’s like to be hated and lambasted by the GOP for the entirety of her time in the public eye—and, most notoriously, for championing a health care plan that looked a lot like Bernie’s during her time as First Lady—it sounds to me like the sort of verbal high-five between Clinton and Sanders that the party has needed over the course of a fractious primary.

After Clinton clinched the nomination in June, I complained that Sanders was taking longer to concede to Clinton than she did to concede to Obama in 2008. I still think it shouldn’t have taken this long, but his endorsement today was gracious, and shows that even with the primary over, he may be able to continue to do what he does best: push Clinton to the left, where her wonk brilliance shines.