President Obama said he was “confident” he could have beaten Donald Trump if he had run in this past election cycle in a CNN interview with David Axelrod, political analyst and Obama’s former Senior Advisor.
Naturally, Trump was not too happy with any remote discrediting of his (questionable) election to president. True to form, Trump immediately took to Twitter to whine and self-validate. Maturity is truly lost on this man.
President Obama said that he thinks he would have won against me. He should say that but I say NO WAY! - jobs leaving, ISIS, OCare, etc.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2016
In the interview, Obama also commented on Hillary Clinton’s campaign and loss. “For whatever reason, there’s been a longstanding difficulty in her relationship with the press that meant her flaws were wildly amplified,” he said.
Come on, Mr. President! You know at least a large part of that "whatever reason" is sexism. But we get it, calling out the entirety of the mainstream media for being biased against women probably would drive the conversation more backward than forward, and we’ve had about enough backward this year.
The Clinton campaign also didn’t take enough risks, according to Obama. “If you think you’re winning, then you have a tendency...maybe to play it safer," he said.
Obama touched on the end of his administration, describing his sadness that the White House staff “family” will be dispersing come January. “Knowing that that phase is coming to an end—they’ll stay my friends for life."
*Wipes tears*
Obama also expressed deep gratitude for the people who worked throughout his two terms as president as well as those who worked on his two campaigns for election to the office. “Even though from their perspective, I'm the one inspiring them, in fact all I'm doing is drawing from their energy,” said Obama. “They're the ones inspiring me."
*Wiping no longer sufficient, puddle of tears forms on ground*
Finally, after talking about his plans post-presidency, where he and Michelle Obama intend “to amplify and lift up the next generation of voices not just in politics, but in civic life,” the interview concluded with Axelrod thanking Obama and the two exchanging some heartfelt sentiments.
“On behalf of all of us...I want to say thank you for your wonderful service,” said Axelrod. YEP.