I Would Have Won Against Trump, Says Obama

Washington: President Barack Obama expressed confidence that he would have been able to marshal enough support to defeat Donald Trump if he had been eligible to run for a third term.

In an interview by CNN, the President, who will hand over the White House to Trump on January 20, said, "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." Obama also said that many people around the country, including opponents, keep telling him that the vision and direction of his message is the correct one.

Obama said, the Republicans were only able to engage in an exercise in disunity, insisting that Trump's victory does not show that the dreams of "one America that is tolerant and diverse and open" have failed. Obama, who has announced that he will remain in Washington until his younger daughter finishes high school, said that after leaving the White House he intends to keep a low profile but he will speak out on important issues because he is still a "citizen" who has duties and obligations.

Donald Trump has responded by saying "no way" to outgoing US President Barack Obama's claims of winning a re-election, the media reported on Tuesday. Trump responded in a tweet saying: "President Obama said that he thinks he would have won against me...He should say that but I say NO WAY! - jobs leaving, IS (Islamic State), OCare (Obamacare), etc."

In the November 8 election, Trump beat his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton due to the Electoral College voting system, but the former First Lady handily won the popular vote by more than three million ballots.

Trump railed against Obama and Clinton's policies on the campaign trail, telling supporters that Clinton was, in essence, running as an extension of the last eight years while portraying himself as the change agent who could shake up Washington and bring power back to the American people. He has promised to repeal and replace Obamacare once he takes office, derided the two Democratic politicians as founders of the Islamic State and slammed them for having supported free trade policies like the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Trump has been defensive regarding the election outcome, arguing that he could have won the popular vote if he wanted to and rejecting US intelligence that Russia meddled in the presidential election, allegedly to boost his campaign, Politico reported. But he has softened his rhetoric on Obama and Clinton, praising the president and even seeking his counsel during the transition, and reneging on his pledge to jail Clinton.