(CNN) Arguing that Americans still subscribe to his vision of progressive change, President Barack Obama asserted in an interview recently he could have succeeded in this year's election if he was eligible to run.

"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 told his former senior adviser David Axelrod in an interview for the "The Axe Files" podcast, produced by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN.

"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," Obama said in the interview, which aired Monday.

"In the wake of the election and Trump winning, a lot of people have suggested that somehow, it really was a fantasy," Obama said of the hope-and-change vision he heralded in 2008. "What I would argue is, is that the culture actually did shift, that the majority does buy into the notion of a one America that is tolerant and diverse and open and full of energy and dynamism."

Photos: Obama and Axelrod David Axelrod sits backstage with then-US Sen. Barack Obama during a 2007 campaign rally for Obama's presidential run. Axelrod, a senior political commentator for CNN, was a senior adviser for Obama during his presidency. Hide Caption 1 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama huddles with his campaign staff, including Robert Gibbs, right, before a town-hall meeting in Erie, Pennsylvania, in April 2008. Gibbs would later be Obama's press secretary. Hide Caption 2 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama and Axelrod, trailed by aide Reggie Love, talk backstage before a town-hall meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina, in April 2008. Hide Caption 3 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama talks on the phone aboard his plane as members of the campaign travel to St. Paul, Minnesota, in June 2008. Hide Caption 4 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama and Axelrod sit on an airport tarmac in Washington in June 2008. Hide Caption 5 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama and Axelrod hug at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, where Obama had officially received the party's nomination for president. Hide Caption 6 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Axelrod and White House Chief of Staff designate Rahm Emanuel listen to Obama speak at a news conference in Chicago in December 2008. Hide Caption 7 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama speaks with aides in the White House Oval Office in February 2009. From left are Senior Advisor Pete Rouse, White House Director of Legislative Affairs Phil Schiliro, Axelrod, National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers and Emanuel. Hide Caption 8 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama, Axelrod and Gibs tour the Great Pyramids of Giza during a trip to Egypt in 2009. Hide Caption 9 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama laughs with aides aboard Air Force One in November 2009. Hide Caption 10 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Axelrod and Obama attend a meeting with congressional leadership in July 2010. Hide Caption 11 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama works on an acceptance speech with Axelrod and Director of Speechwriting Jon Favreau, center, on the night of the 2012 election. Hide Caption 12 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama and Axelrod sit together in the White House as they tape a podcast for the "Axe Files" in December 2016. Hide Caption 13 of 13

Neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton won a majority of the vote in the 2016 contest. Clinton beat Trump in the popular vote by almost 2.9 million ballots, though Trump won more electoral votes and thus the presidency.

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