In a move that will bolster her supporters while adding more fuel to the BernieBro fire, President Barack Obama on Thursday threw his support behind former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

He cited her extensive experience as a key reason for doing so.

"I know how hard this job can be," he said. "That's why I know Hillary can be so good at it. In fact, I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office."

He also praised her for having the "courage, the compassion and the heart" to serve well.

"And I say that as someone who had to debate her over 20 times," he said.

Release of the endorsement video (embedded below) coincided with a Thursday-afternoon meeting Obama had with her primary opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Disappointed Sanders supporters took immediately to social media to vent. In a post on his Facebook page, former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich said that the President's decision to endorse Clinton more than a month out from the Democratic National Convention was "a major error" and that the math will likely not end up in Clinton's favor in November given that so many Sanders supporters vow not to vote for her.

Sanders lost several state primaries Tuesday night, including California and New Jersey. But even as the gap between the two widened, Sanders' supporters, including a group of passionate Tampa Bay for Bernie members we chatted with Tuesday night, said they still see a viable path to a Sanders nomination.

After Thursday's meeting, Sanders did not announce he would be dropping his bid, but instead said he would work with Clinton to try to heal the nasty rift that has opened between the two candidates' supporters.

There's only one primary left for Democrats, Washington, D.C., and only 20 delegates are at stake — not remotely enough to make a huge difference for Sanders even if he were to win them all.

It's unclear whether Sanders will leave the race after that contest (presumably in exchange for a lucrative position and/or aspects of his platform to be incorporated into hers) or if he intends to take it to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July, where supporters think they have a shot at getting several hundred so-called superdelegates to change their votes.

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