“I have no doubt that there are people who voted against me because of race, or didn’t approve of my agenda because of race,” he said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune published Thursday. “I also suspect there were a bunch of people who were excited and voted for me, or I got political benefits because of the notion of the first African American president.

“So those things cut both ways.”…

“There’s no doubt that there are pockets of the country where some dog whistles blow and there’s underlying racial fears that may be exploited, overall, what’s more the case I think is just the straight, hardball politics of running against an incumbent and beating the heck out of them and softening them up,” he said.

“Because if a whole bunch of stuff gets done, he’s going to get the credit.”