President Barack Obama famously boasted to Republicans first week in office that 'elections have consequences' and the winner gets to set the agenda.

The outgoing president is eating his own words eight years later on the verge of Donald Trump's tenure in the Oval Office.

'I don't want to sugarcoat it. There are consequences to elections,' he told Rolling Stone a day after the Republican won the presidential election.

Obama said he was 'disappointed' but not 'dismayed,' and despite his claims throughout the election that Trump wouldn't win, Obama told Rolling Stone 'the odds of Donald Trump winning were always around 20 percent.'

'One out of five is not that unusual. It's not a miracle.'

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President Barack Obama spoke to Rolling Stone the day after the historic presidential election and ate his own words - 'elections have consequences' - as he reflected on his legacy and the victory of Donald Trump

The Democratic leader who has been criticized at times for being too cerebral admitted in the interview, this month's cover story, that his party has a problem reaching white working class voters who put him in office yet gave their votes to Trump.

'That part of the critique of the Democratic Party is accurate. We spend a lot of time focused on international policy and national policy and less time being on the ground,' he said. 'And when we're on the ground, we do well. This is why I won Iowa.'

He rebuffed a suggestion that Democrats overlooked the economic struggles those voters are facing. 'The challenge we had is not that we've neglected these communities from a policy perspective,' he said.

The party did a poor job of communicating the benefits of the policies that already exist, Obama insisted.

'Whatever policy prescriptions that we've been proposing don't reach, are not heard, by the folks in these communities. And what they do hear is Obama or Hillary are trying to take away their guns or they disrespect you,' he stated.

Democrats must invest resources in social media and recommit to grassroots organizing, Obama assessed, 'rather than depending on coming up with the right technocratic policies and sharing that with the New York Times editorial board.'

Fox News is another powerful messaging tool for Republicans, he argued. It's 'in every bar and restaurant in big chunks of the country.'

Obama said Democrats will continue to lose to Republicans until 'they can change perceptions about the Democratic Party and progressive causes in these rural or predominantly white areas, particularly in the Midwest.'

He hat-tipped Bernie Sanders and said he agrees with Vermont Senator who challenged Clinton in the primary that Democrats must 'reinvigorate' the national party 'so it's not seen as a Washington entity.'

Shortly after Hillary Clinton publicly acknowledged her defeat Obama calmly stood in White House Rose Garden and told glum 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue staffers to 'keep their heads up.' He told Rolling Stone the same day he's proud of his administration's accomplishments

Trump painted the Midwest red with the exceptions of Minnesota and Illinois, a state that Obama and Clinton have each called home.

He delivered severe blows to Clinton in the Great Lakes region, as well, claiming Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania for Republicans.

Shortly after Clinton publicly acknowledged her defeat Obama calmly stood in White House Rose Garden and told glum 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue staffers to 'keep their heads up.'

'Sometimes you lose an argument. Sometimes you lose an election,' he said. 'We learn from our mistakes. We do some reflection. We lick our wounds. We brush ourselves off. We get back in the arena. We go at it. We try even harder the next time.'

He privately told Rolling Stone the same day, 'I'm disappointed, partly because I think Hillary Clinton would be a very fine president.

'As I said on the campaign trail, a lot of the work we've done is only partially complete. And we need some continuity in order for us to maximize its benefits.'

Obama candidly assessed that his Supreme Court pick, Merrick Garland, will not be confirmed, and the international climate change agreement his administration pushed so hard could fall apart.

'It means that the next Supreme Court justice is going to be somebody who doesn’t reflect my understanding of the Constitution. It means that the work we've done internationally and domestically on climate is going to be threatened,' Obama said.

Obama told his staff that day: 'Sometimes you lose an argument. Sometimes you lose an election.' He admitted to Rolling Stone that Democrats have to 'reinvigorate' the national party

His namesake healthcare law is on the chopping block, too, Obama admitted.

Obamacare 'is going to be modified in ways that some people are going to be hurt by,' he said.

'I think it doesn't take us all the way back to the status quo, because, despite the rhetoric, the Republicans are going to conclude that simply throwing millions of people off the rolls with no health insurance isn't smart politics.'

The president said he takes solace in the number of young people who voted for Clinton.

'If it were just young people who were voting, Hillary would have gotten 500 electoral votes,' he asserted. 'So we have helped, I think, shape a generation to think about being inclusive, being fair, caring about the environment. And they will have growing influence year by year, which means that America over time will continue to get better.'

The hard reality for the exiting president is that Trump won the election with promises to repeal and replace Obamacare, renegotiate the president's foreign trade pact, the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate change agreement, and said he'd build a wall on the United States' border with Mexico.

He also pledged to rescind executive orders allowing children residing in the country illegally to stay in America indefinitely.

'There's going to be a Trump presidency, and Republicans are going to control Congress,' Obama admitted. 'And the question is gonna be, for those like you and I, who care about these issues, do we figure out how to continue to make progress in this environment until we have a chance for the next election.'

HARD TRUTHS: Trump won the election with promises to repeal and replace Obamacare, renegotiate the president's foreign trade pact, the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate change agreement, and said he'd build a wall on the United States' border with Mexico. He's seen here dining with Obama's 2012 challenger, Romney, last night in New York

Obama candidly observed that comprehensive immigration reform is unlikely to come up for a vote in Congress now for at least two years, if not four or more, and that he overlooked Americans' legitimate concerns about securing the border.

'It's going to be important for Democrats and immigration-rights activists to recognize that for the majority of the American people, borders mean something,' he said. 'And so there has to be, what I've said before, both rule of law and values that stay true to our immigrant roots.

'There have been times where in our big-heartedness around immigration, we haven't adequately addressed how do we get the orderly and lawful part of it down,' he said. 'And we tend to dismiss people's concerns about making sure that immigration is lawful and orderly.'

Still, Obama said he's happy with the legacy he's crafted.

'When I turn over the keys to the federal government to the next president of the United States, I can say without any equivocation that the country is a lot better off...And so I can take great pride in the work we've done. I can take great satisfaction in the people we've helped.'

The two-term president said he plans to write a book once he leaves office. He'll also direct his focus to his presidential library, which he envisions as a training ground for the next generation of Democratic leaders.

'So I will continue to be very active, and Michelle is going to continue to be very active,' he stated.

The president again batted speculation that the first lady could pull a Hillary Clinton and seek public office after their time at the White House has concluded.