In an interview released today with CNNanalyst David Axelrod, President Obama issued a veiled criticism on Hillary Clinton's campaign, saying his own victory would have been certain.
"If you think you're winning, then you have a tendency, just like in sports, maybe to play it safer," he said.
He said Clinton "understandably ... looked and said, well, given my opponent and the things he's saying and what he's doing, we should focus on that.
"I am confident in this vision because I'm confident that if I - if I had run again and articulated it - I think I could've mobilised a majority of the American people to rally behind it."
Obama said the issue was less that Democrats had abandoned the white working class - a common criticism associated with Ms Clinton's loss at the November election.
"Look, the Affordable Care Act benefits a huge number of Trump voters. There are a lot of folks in places like West Virginia or Kentucky who didn't vote for Hillary, didn't vote for me, but are being helped by this," he said.
President Obama issued a veiled criticism on Hillary Clinton's campaign, saying his own victory would have been certain. Photo / AP
"The problem is, is that 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."
As he prepares to exit the White House, Obama said he doesn't plan to provide day-to-day responses to a Trump presidency.
In addition to writing a book, he said he wanted to focus on training up young people.
He said his "long-term interest" was "to build that next generation of leadership: organisers, journalists, politicians".
"I see them in America, I see them around the world - 20-year-olds, 30-year-olds who are just full of talent, full of idealism. And the question is how do we link them up? How do we give them the tools for them to bring about progressive change? And I want to use my presidential centre as a mechanism for developing that next generation of talent," Mr Obama said.
