Democratic Primaries

“The world has changed. It's different. We have the same value set, he and I. And, you know, I don't think we gave him enough credit. He's a guy that our kids could look up to and they did look up to.”

He added: ”But it's a different world. The same things don't apply. But I do keep in contact with him.

Obama did say, "That's right. Feel the Bern!" at the 2016 convention. But he said it while trying to get Sanders supporters to vote for Clinton, not while offering an endorsement of Sanders.

Obama was trying to unite the party behind Clinton after her contentious primary with Sanders. During Obama's lengthy testimonial to Clinton, he complimented Sanders supporters -- and promptly encouraged everybody to vote for Democrats.

"So if you agree that there's too much inequality in our economy and too much money in our politics, we all need to be as vocal and as organized and as persistent as Bernie Sanders supporters have been during this election," Obama said. There were cheers. Obama continued: "We all need to get out and vote for Democrats up and down the ticket, and then hold them accountable until they get the job done."

The crowd cheered again, and there was a chant of "Ber-nie!" Obama then said, "That's right -- feel the Bern!"