President Barack Obama today predicted that he'd win a third election to the White House if he weren't legally prohibited from running again.

Obama made the prognostication while speaking before the African Union about law and order in a democratic society during his final day in Ethiopia.

'I actually think I'm a pretty good president,' Obama said to laughter. 'I think if I ran I could win. But I can't.'

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'I actually think I'm a pretty good President,' U.S. President Barack Obama said today, during remarks at the African Union in Ethiopia. 'I think if I ran I could win. But I can't'

The remarks came just as CNN/ORC International released a poll putting the president's approval rating at 49 percent. It's the second month in a row that more Americans have told CNN's pollsters that they were pleased with the job that Obama is doing than those who said they were satisfied.

For most of the two years prior, a majority of Americans had expressed unfavorable opinions about the management skills of the country's chief executive.

CNN polls taken over the last month, following a pair of Supreme Court victories for the Obama administration and congressional approval of the president's trade proposal, have shown the second-term president's popularity creeping above the watermark into net positive territory.

Taken on their own, the president's current approval ratings are easy to scoff at - roughly half the country is unhappy with the way he's running the country.

But the same number of Americans - 49 percent - were disillusioned with Obama the month before the 2012 presidential election, and he went on to beat his GOP competitor, Mitt Romney, that November with 51 percent of the vote.

If Obama were to seek a third term, based on CNN's polling data, he just might be able to win, as he confidently suggested in his remarks today.

The U.S. president said, however, that he is looking forward to returning to private life after spending eight years in the public eye.

'I'll be honest with you,' he told his audience. 'I’m looking forward to life after being President. I won't have such a big security detail all the time. It means I can go take a walk. I can spend time with my family. I can find other ways to serve. I can visit Africa more often.'

Obama said he's 'looking forward to life after being president' because he 'won't have such a big security detail all the time. It means I can go take a walk. I can spend time with my family.' He's pictured here in Central Park in New York City with his daughters Sasha, light blue dress, and Malia, jean jacket, and their friends just before his trip to Africa

Obama shakes hands with farmer Gifty Jemal Hussein, second from right, during a tour of Faffa Food, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia today

Obama shows off a ear of corn grown Hussein during the Feed the Future program as he tours the Faffa Food factory. Obama told Ethiopia's leaders on Monday that allowing more political freedoms would strengthen the African nation, which had already lifted millions out of a poverty once rooted in recurring famine

Obama said he doesn't understand why leaders in other countries such as Burundi resist the changing of the guard and refuse to vacate office, 'especially when they’ve got a lot of money.'

Speaking from Mandela Hall at the African Union headquarters, Obama praised former South African leader Nelson Mandela, for whom the space was named after, for knowing when it was time to step down.

'Nobody should be president for life,' he said. 'And your country is better off if you have new blood and new ideas.'

Obama said he's 'still a pretty young man' but added, 'I know that somebody with new energy and new insights will be good for my country.'

He'd earlier warned African leaders that they risk undercutting the continent's democratic progress by preventing the peaceful transition of power in their countries.

'I am in my second term. It has been an extraordinary privilege for me to serve as President of the United States,' he said. 'I cannot imagine a greater honor or a more interesting job. I love my work.'

'But under our Constitution, I cannot run again,' he explained. 'So there’s a lot that I'd like to do to keep America moving, but the law is the law.'

'And no one person is above the law. Not even the President,' Obama posited.