Barack Obama simply cannot believe that Americans voted for a president who would destroy his progressive legacy.

And so he's going to try to go back to the White House in 2020.

That's according to talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Limbaugh on his show Thursday cited a headline about Obama quietly coaching 2020 Democratic candidates.

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"Do you remember when I said, when I predicted Obama would not be leaving Washington, that he would be hanging around and that whenever anything. ... No matter who won, but especially if a Republican won," Limbaugh said.

"He'd hang around and whenever any attempt to unravel any of his agenda items was underway, he would make tracks to the nearest camera and start attacking it, and that the media would be totally supportive. Well, that hasn't quite happened. But he has stayed in town, and he is… He and Valerie Jarrett and some others are 'Quietly Coaching 2020 Democrat Candidates Behind the Scenes,'" Limbaugh said.

But the talk host said he thinks "something else is ... going on."

Limbaugh noted Obama has been stingy with making personal appearances for candidates, and the "dirty little secret is that if Obama endorses you, you are toast. Ask Hillary."

"But I don't think that's what's going on here, folks. I think they want back in. I think Obama wants back in. He can't go back in. So how does Obama get back in? Very easy: Michelle (My Belle) Obama. I think what they're doing is putting together her campaign. They're strategizing how to limit the field, how to do damage to all those people in the field, and the right time for her to enter the field."

He pointed to Michelle Obama's new book as one indicator.

"I don't think they got anywhere near the taste of power that they want. And I think Trump's presidency, Trump winning, has discombobulated these people in ways that we haven't even factored yet. And I think Michelle may be the candidate, and she may end up thinking she's gonna actually be president, but it's old Barack who wants back in there – and I think that's what's happening here."

Michelle Obama is at the top of polls when Democrats are asked their preference for a candidate in 2020.

Limbaugh noted the New York Times article about Obama, which he said confirms his instincts.

"I think they're so ticked off. The Democrats still can't believe they lost this thing, Hillary and all that. But Obama, I think they are just seething. I think they have been seething since election night because the Obamas are taking it personal right here in this story," he said.

Limbaugh quoted the Times saying: "Obama is mostly concerned, some sources told the New York Times, that candidates be ready and willing to push back on Donald Trump's economic rhetoric which Obama's friends refer to as bleak."

He pointed to another passage in the Times story saying: "Obama is still surprised, they say, that Trump won with a message of turning back the clock on Obama's agenda. And he doesn't really understand how such an anti-Obama message resonated with America."

Limbaugh commented: "I will guarantee you that Obama thought that he was a spiritual leader of the majority of people in this country. Look, this is the guy that put God reverb on his microphone at public appearances. This is a guy who posed for photos making it look like there was a halo of light behind his head. This is the guy who said that his election meant this is when the planet starts to heal and the sea levels start to fall and all of that rotgut. And I think that they were out there and Trump running around ragging on Obamacare, and then winning."

He said he expects that when Michelle announces her bid, "everybody else is finished, kaput, some will resign at that very moment."

"I think they really expect the seas to part and the party to ask every other candidate to step aside and let Michelle walk in, get the nomination without even really having to campaign. That’s what they’re trying to set up."