--- title: Barack Obama Says He Could Have Beat Donald Trump description: President Obama thinks he could have won a third term if he had run against Donald Trump canonical: https://time.com/4618125/barack-obama-president-third-term-hope/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-26T18:18:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T14:09:46.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama: I Could Have Beaten Donald Trump og:description: He still believes in "hope and change" og:url: https://time.com/4618125/barack-obama-president-third-term-hope/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt515eca2fff393c94/6988b3ff97cdffab7d6aef9f/obama-beat-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: President Obama End of Year News Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama: I Could Have Beaten Donald Trump twitter:description: He still believes in "hope and change" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt515eca2fff393c94/6988b3ff97cdffab7d6aef9f/obama-beat-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama: I Could Have Beaten Donald Trump > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Updated: Dec 13, 2023 2:09 PM UTCPublished: Dec 26, 2016 6:18 PM UTC  Obama smiles as he concludes his annual end-of-year news conference at the White House in Washington, USA on Dec. 16, 2016. Obama smiles as he concludes his annual end-of-year news conference at the White House in Washington, USA on Dec. 16, 2016. Samuel Corum—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Updated: Dec 13, 2023 2:09 PM UTCPublished: Dec 26, 2016 6:18 PM UTC Despite the twists and turns of the 2016 election, and the punishing defeat for his Democratic Party at the hands of [Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/), [President Obama](http://time.com/4302043/barack-obama-2016-time-100/) thinks he could have won a third term if he had run. Obama, in an interview with his former senior adviser David Axelrod for [the Axe Files podcast,](http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/26/politics/axe-files-obama-transcript/index.html) said he thinks he could have won because people still support the “hope and change” message that carried him to victory in 2008. “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 mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it,” Obama said. “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.” Trump quickly responded to the interview on Twitter, saying there was “NO WAY” Obama could have beaten him. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/813498739923054593) Presidents are restricted to two terms under the Constitution. [Obama actively campaigned](http://time.com/4554189/president-obama-hillary-clinton-ohio/?iid=sr-link7) for [Hillary Clinton](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-hillary-clinton-runner-up/) during the election. “I think that Hillary Clinton performed wonderfully under really tough circumstances,” Obama said. “I’ve said this publicly, I’ll repeat it. 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