In an interview with CNN’s David Axelrod on the Axe Files Podcast President Obama told Axelrod that he believes he would have one the November election had be been eligible to run for a third term.

“I am confident in this vision because I’m confident that if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could’ve mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it,” said Obama.

Obama and Axelrod know each other well. Axelrod served as the Chief Strategist for both of Obama’s campaigns and was later appointed Senior Adviser to the President, a position he held until 2011 when he resigned to run Obama’s second campaign.

Obama seemed to rebuke the idea that Trump’s November victory was a direct repudiation of his administration. He says that throughout conversations he’s had across America, the one thing that he’s heard from both his supporters as well as”some people who disagreed” is that “the direction that you point towards is the right one.”

Throughout the rather candid discussion Obama and Axelrod took turns analyzing the current political environment that boosted Trump and congressional republicans to victory in the November Elections.

Obama noted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s “pretty smart and well executed” strategy of obstructionism as the key to the Republicans’ ability to “puncture” talk “about hope and change.”

“What I would argue is, is that the culture actually did shift, that the majority does buy into the notion of a one America that is tolerant and diverse and open and full of energy and dynamism,” Obama said.

Obama placed blame for the November loss on Democrats for failing to be “on the ground” communicating that the party and their policies are aimed at putting working class Americans back to work and rebuilding the middle class.

Despite is party’s losses in November, Obama is leaving office one of the most liked Presidents of the modern era. With a 57 percent approval rating, he’s more well liked than either of the Bushes, Carter, Ford, Nixon, Johnson, or Truman.