Barack Obama on presidential limitations

WASHINGTON (CBS News) - The 28th President of the United States Woodrow Wilson once said, "A President can be as big a man he wants to be," in describing the limits every United States president faces while in office. However presidents who have recently served all thought the presidency was restraining and they believed a president is incapable of doing as much as they initially thought. During a sit-down interview at the White House for Face the Nation, John Dickerson asked President Obama which thought he believes to be true.

"The founders designed our system of government so that we didn't have a dictator." Obama responded and added, "So that one person, no matter benevolent their intentions, couldn't just yank this massive country of ours in a single direction."

Although Obama is glad the framers set limits to presidential powers because of history's track record of despots and autocrats, the president also said the modern world makes it a harder feat.

"The speed of it is tougher." Obama said. "You have to have a certain level of endurance and just stick-to-it-ness in order to be effective." According to Obama, this is a trait presumed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has.

"She [Hillary Clinton] grinds it out. And it's not always pretty. But in this environment oftentimes is what's most effective in actually getting stuff done."

In terms of Obama's own presidency, he cited the Affordable Care Act as a policy he had to grind through congress and the American public. He also considers it a policy seen mostly as a good for society, but still subject to controversy from his political rivals.

"It gives you a sense of how in this environment, in today's politics, building the sort of consensus that F.D.R. could with the fireside chat," Obama explained, "those days are over."

Obama also reflected on the shift the presidency has seen since the days "when Teddy Roosevelt could go off to Yellowstone with one Secret Service agent and go camping for a month." Face the Nation host John Dickerson asked the president if he feels envious of those days. Obama responded, "I do. That's a different environment."

For more of our interview with President Barack Obama click here.