Outgoing United States President Barack Obama says he could've beaten Donald Trump in the recent US election, in an interview with his former senior adviser David Axelrod released on Monday .
Mr Obama defended his "hope and change" legacy, which now faces Republican rollback.
"I am confident in this vision because I'm confident that if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could've mobilised a majority of the American people to rally behind it," he said on The Axe Files podcast.
"I know that in conversations that I've had with people around the country, even some people who disagreed with me, they would say the vision, the direction that you point towards is the right one."
However, Mr Trump disagreed, saying that Mr Obama's failure to effectively handle job losses, ISIS, and Obamacare would have doomed him.
Mr Obama said the Democratic Party had failed to reach rural white voters who were anxious about economic and cultural change.
"We're not there on the ground communicating not only the dry policy aspects of this, but that we care about these communities, that we're bleeding for these communities," Mr Obama said.
"It means caring about local races, state boards or school boards and city councils and state legislative races and not thinking that somehow, just a great set of progressive policies that we present to the New York Times editorial board will win the day."
In a thinly veiled criticism of Hillary Clinton, Mr Obama said she had acted too cautiously throughout her campaign.
"If you think you're winning, then you have a tendency, just like in sports, maybe to play it safer," he said.
Mr Obama said he would now work to develop the next generation of Democrat activists - and hinted he might stay publically active.
"At a certain point, you make room for new voices and fresh legs," Mr Obama said.
"That doesn't mean that if a year from now, or a year-and-a-half from now, or two years from now, there is an issue of such moment, such import, that isn't just a debate about a particular tax bill or, you know, a particular policy, but goes to some foundational issues about our democracy that I might not weigh in."
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