With Clinton out sick, Obama hits the campaign trail

With Hillary Clinton still recuperating from pneumonia, President Obama will hit the campaign trail solo today, addressing voters in Philadelphia in his first 2016 campaign event without Clinton. The appearance was planned before Clinton got sick; she was scheduled to be in California early this week on a fundraising trip.

Obama's stop in the battleground state of Pennsylvania comes as his approval rating hit an impressive 58 percent and as Clinton's image suffers amid perceptions of dishonesty over the late reveal of her diagnosis, and her remark Friday that half of Donald Trump's supporters belong in a "basket of deplorables."

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest insisted Monday that Obama's appearance won't be about "damage control." "I'll leave it to them to make decisions about the most effective way to run their campaign," Earnest said. "The president is going to be in a mode tomorrow where he's enthusiastically advocating for her election."

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Obama will be the second White House figure to hit the trail for Clinton this week. Vice President Joe Biden talked about Clinton during an appearance in Charlotte on Monday, and First Lady Michelle Obama is scheduled to make her first campaign appearance Friday at a voter registration event in Northern Virginia.