President Barack Obama seemed happy to be back on the trail during his first joint campaign appearance of 2016 with presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, heaping on the praise at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina.

After extolling North Carolina's food and basketball, President Obama told the crowd he was "fired up" and talked about his time both campaigning against Clinton and serving with her in his administration.

"Everybody can tweet, but nobody actually knows what it takes to do the job until you've sat behind the desk," Obama said. "There has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office than Hillary, ever, and that's the truth."

Specifically mentioning issues like immigration and gun control, Obama took a jab at presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump while linking his time in office to Clinton's current campaign.

"This is not a reality show, this is reality," Obama said. "I'm ready to pass the baton, and I know that Hillary Clinton is going to take it."



Before Obama spoke, Clinton lauded her former boss and colleague.

"I feel very privileged because I've known the president in many roles, as a colleague in the Senate, as an opponent in a hard-fought primary, and as the president I was so proud to serve as secretary of state," Clinton said.

"I've 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, and Donald if you're out there tweeting, it's Hawaii," she added in a jab at Trump.

She praised Obama specifically for "saving our economy" from a second Great Depression and increasing health care coverage and clean energy production.

"This is what leadership looks like," she said.

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Obama joined Clinton on the campaign trail on Tuesday about a month after he formally endorsed her. Their joint appearance was originally scheduled to take place in mid-June in Wisconsin before being postponed in the aftermath of the Orlando nightclub mass shooting.

The appearance came during a day of mixed news for Clinton. Earlier Tuesday, FBI Director James Comey said his office is not recommending that prosecutors bring charges against Clinton for her handling of classified information in connection with private email servers while she served as secretary of state. However, he did say Clinton and her team were "extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information."

No mention of Comey's remarks or the email controversy was made at the rally, though Obama did say that "Hillary has got her share of critics. That's what happens when you're somebody who is actually in the arena."

Earlier Tuesday, Trump and other Republicans jumped on Comey's remarks and heavily criticized Clinton.

Trump was scheduled to speak in Raleigh, North Carolina, later Tuesday evening. The Tar Heel State is a major presidential battleground state. Obama won it in 2008 before it flipped to Republican Mitt Romney in 2012.