Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has described Burma's constitution as "unfair, unjust and undemocratic" after talks with US President Barack Obama in her Yangon home.
Ms Suu Kyi is barred from running for the presidency of her nation, which is also known as Myanmar.
Mr Obama also spoke out against the ban during a joint press conference.
Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, is barred from next year's election because her two sons are foreign nationals.
"From the point of view of democracy, it is not right to discriminate against one particular person," she said of the law.
Mr Obama said: "I don't understand a provision that would bar someone from being president because of who their children are - that doesn't make much sense to me."
It was the clearest statement Mr Obama has made on Ms Suu Kyi's political future.
However, he stopped short of explicitly urging that changes be made to allow her to run for the presidency.
Mr Obama also warned that Burma's reforms were by "no means complete or irreversible".
The talks took place after Mr Obama met Myanmar's President Thein Sein in Naypyidaw yesterday.
He had expressed cautious optimism for the political and economic changes under the general-turned-leader's rule, which began in 2011.
